A Second Chance
by Crazy7634
Summary: In his old world, he was an outcast. He was deprived of happiness and safety. His "home" took everything from him; his friends, his dream... even his family. But now, he has been given a new life. In a place where he can experience the things he was once denied. This time, he won't let anyone take his precious people away from him. Even if it costs him his second chance.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything, especially Naruto and Steven Universe.**

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Chapter 1 – Looking Back

[Valley of the End]

The skies were angry, as thunder and lightning roared and rain came pouring down. Two humongous statues of legendary shinobi were situated on two small islands in the valley separated by the raging water of a waterfall. There was a boy stood on each of the statues, their figures barely seen through the shadow which had been created by the dark clouds covering the sun. One of the boys wore an outfit of dark blue and black which had an odd fan symbol stuck on the back of his shirt, the top half red and the bottom white. His eyes were a vengeful red with spinning tomoes and his pitch-black hair looked oddly like the bottom half of a duck. The child standing opposite him however, wore a bright orange jumpsuit along with blue sandals and had three strange, whisker-like birthmarks on each of his cheeks. His shining, golden hair spiked in all directions and his eyes were a determined cerulean. They both had a hand stuck out, each powering up their respective signature techniques.

"I will return you to Konoha, whether you come willingly or not." The blond one said confidently.

"Tch! The day that happens is the day that an Uchiha like me actually loses to a class dobe like you!" the other boy smirked.

"Heh, cocky as always, eh? We'll see..."

The two tensed and their eyes narrowed in concentration, waiting to see who would move first. None of them spoke a word as lightning suddenly struck in the middle of them both, casting a bright light that showed the injuries the boys had for a split-second. The genin took the lightning as their cue and leaped off their respective statues, their hands at their fronts, pointed at the other boy as they yelled their opponent's name.

"NARUTOOOO!"

"SASUKEEEE!"

A loud explosion could be heard over the valley, drowning out the sounds created by the current weather. A hand covered in lightning met with one that held a powerful, spiralling sphere of blue energy as their figures collided high above the river. A strong gust of wind made by the power clash blew away from the young shinobi, causing even the mightiest trees in the area to bend. A dark-purplish orb consumed the two as their techniques fought for dominance over the other's. Sasuke saw the now red eyes of his ex-teammate and flinched, his concentration paused for a second; his lightning covered hand slipped from where it collided with the other boy's and went straight through his chest. Sasuke momentarily froze in shock and the blonde boy used the opening to gain the upper hand as he pushed the dark-haired boy away.

"RAAAAHHHH!"

With a cry, the orange-wearing genin managed to overpower dark-haired one and pushed him to the bottom of the valley. Sasuke crashed into the earth, creating a rather large crater.

"H-How..." the boy thought, "How did Naruto beat me?"

Not long afterwards, Naruto himself fell to the ground and, though weak and tired from the fight, managed to land on his feet. The hole in his chest no longer bleeding and was momentarily filled with red chakra.

"I told you... I'd beat you... Teme..." the jinchuuriki panted, "Now let's go back, that stupid hickey the snake gave you is… messing you up..."

Naruto limped over to Sasuke and lifted him up and placed one of Sasuke's arms around his neck to support him. He looked towards the direction of Konoha.

"Damn it... We just had to land on the side of the valley that was AWAY from the village..." the boy cursed in his mind. "Well, complaining isn't gonna help us get there faster now is it..."

The young Uzumaki pulled the silent Uchiha up and he slowly made his way to the river as he began the slow and no doubt painful trek back to their birth-place.

"Why..."

Naruto stopped when the "Last" Uchiha broke the silence between them.

"Hmm?"

"Why did you come for me… was it because it was the Hokage's orders? Because Sakura asked you to? Or did someone bribe you with ninjutsu to come after me..." Sasuke asked. He was looking down while the other boy dragged him. Naruto smiled and continued on, slowly limping to the edge of the small land on which the statue of Madara Uchiha stood on.

"Well, me promising to Sakura that I'd get you back is a small part of why, and I guess being ordered by Baa-chan helped by giving me a reason to go after you without having to sneak out of the village," Naruto answered and Sasuke turned his gaze to the now grinning boy. "But it was mostly because of the fact that, while you probably see me as a mere annoyance, I see you as my own brother."

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock as Naruto continued to speak.

"Out of everyone in our age group, you're the only one who can understand me. Well, at least to a certain degree. You understand the pain of not having anyone close to you. The pain of not having anyone to pick you up when you're down, the pain of being alone. Most of all, you know how it feels to be treated differently because of something that happened to you at a young age." Naruto chuckled, "Plus, you can't deny that ever since the formation of Team 7, it's like the hole created by that pain has been filled up, even by just a little bit. Yeah?"

Naruto looked back down at Sasuke who was gazing at the ground, contemplating on what he had just heard. He reminisced about the memories he had during his childhood as well as his time on Team 7, he remembered the pain he felt when he found out about his older brother killing everyone from his clan, when he lost everyone close to him… But he also remembered feeling happy when Team 7 was first formed, when they trained together, when they did missions together, even when they did ridiculous things together, like when they tried to get Kakashi to take his mask off his face. He grew a smile. Naruto was right... Team 7 did help with the pain of being alone. When he was with them, he felt like... he felt like he had a family again. Naruto stopped moving, causing him to look up only to see the large body of water in front of the two of them.

"Now, how are we supposed to cross this amount of water...?" Naruto thought out loud.

"Well, you're the only one out of the two of us that can actually walk... otouto..." Naruto's head quickly snapped towards Sasuke. It was now his eyes that widened in shock. After a few seconds of processing, a face-splitting grin appeared on his face.

"Well, you're the one who usually thinks of the plans when Kakashi-sensei or Sakura-chan can't. Any bright ideas, nii-san?"

Now Sasuke had a grin of his own too. Before he could respond, a rustle in the trees got their attention as their lazy sensei appeared with one of his summons, Pakkun. His usually calm posture was replaced by a panicking and alert one. He frantically looked around and slightly relaxed as he spotted them but quickly became tense again once he saw the state they were in. He ran toward them and easily jumped the river and landed in front of the two.

"Naruto! Sasuke!"

"Heheh... 'bout time you got here sensei. Hey, do me a favour and... Get Sasuke... to the hospital..." The blonde laughed weakly before passing out, the twin cries of his name from his teacher and brother were the last things he heard before everything went black.

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[Konoha Hospital]

"Gaaah!"

Naruto sprung up from his bed before falling back down, his hand clutching his chest as burning pain erupted from the area.

"W-What happened?" he looked around the room he was currently in, studying the porcelain-white walls.

 _ **"Grr... You nearly died that's what!"**_ , a deep, loud, growling voice resonated in his head, _**"Damn it, every time I either take a nap or you take ONE step outside of this Kami forsaken village, you nearly lose your life, otouto!"**_

"Uhh... Heheh, sorry Kurama-nii. I just can't help the fact that near-death situations always find me." The injured boy laughed nervously. A few silent minutes passed, making Naruto even more nervous than he already was.

 _ **"Damn right you're sorry..."**_ The bijuu finally grumbled before returning to his interrupted nap.

Naruto let out the breath he didn't know he was holding in relief. He looked around the room once more, recognizing it as a hospital room. He slowly slid off the bed, hissing in pain as he stood up, he then turned to the full-body mirror beside his bed and looked over his heavily bandaged form. He was dressed in a hospital gown and bandages framed his face and wrapped around his arms. He looked down at his chest which was bleeding, if the bloody bandages were any indication. He absentmindedly felt the wrapping around his chest, he flinched when a chakra signature suddenly appeared inside the room he was in. He quickly spun to face the figure only to wince as his injuries felt as if they were burning. He managed to stay on his feet and saw the black-haired, turtle-masked ANBU who had shunshined into his room and was holding a clean set of his orange jumpsuit. The ANBU threw the jumpsuit at Naruto who caught it with slight difficulty as a distinctly female voice was heard clearly through the turtle mask.

"Uzumaki-san, you have been called to a meeting." Naruto just blinked silently at this for a few seconds before replying.

"Alright… Let me just get changed out of this annoying gown first-" the room suddenly blurred and spiralled into a small hole, as if it was being sucked in by some sort of powerful force. The hospital patient brought his arms up to cover his face as chairs and IVs flew past his face and into the miniature black hole in front of him. Once the whole area was sucked in, the odd abnormality in space-time suddenly spat out Konoha's council room and the blonde found himself facing the Civilian Council along with the three Konoha Elders, dressed in the jumpsuit he was just holding a few seconds ago before the hole transported him. The senseis of his graduating class's genin teams were standing off to the side, along with the other eight genin themselves and Team Gai.

"Uzumaki Naruto, the council has decided your fate. Due to you harming a fellow leaf ninja and the disturbing amount of times you have used the demon Kyuubi's chakra, the council has chosen to punish you. To prevent any danger befalling unto Konoha from the possibility of the fox's release, you have been sentenced to death, by public execution!" said Danzo, one of the three Konoha Elders. He was an old, black-haired man who was supporting himself with a cane and had an X-like scar on his chin and bandages wrapped around his left eye and left arm.

Naruto hung his head, he was expecting something like this from the moment he was told of the meeting. After all, even though they stopped attacking him in mobs when he graduated from the academy because of the rules against civilians attacking leaf shinobi, the village still treated him with hatred and disdain. The Jōnin had narrowed their eyes and had suspicious looks on their faces, knowing that the "punishment" was mostly because of their animosity towards the Kyuubi being directed at the young blond. The eleven genin standing with them gasped and started crying out objections towards their "decision", even the usually stoic Shino and Neji started to yell. They had been informed beforehand about Naruto's connection with the demon fox who had attacked their birthplace years ago and, unlike the ignorant adults that the Civilian Council was comprised of, they understood that Naruto was not the Kyuubi himself. Only it's jailer.

"No WAY! Council, must rethink this decision!" Shikamaru shouted.

"WHAT?! Naruto doesn't deserve execution. All those times he used the Kyuubi's chakra was only when his fellow leaf shinobi were in danger!" Sakura added.

"Yes, Uzumaki-san does not deserve death. During our match in the Chūnin Exams, he could have used the demon's power the disable me instantly at the beginning. Instead, he only started to use the chakra once I had blocked his tenketsu and was nearly unable to move." Neji exclaimed.

"Naruto only used the demonic chakra when my mind and body was under the control of Orochimaru's curse mark! The vile power that the seal had used to corrupt my mind was too strong for Naruto to fight against without the Kyuubi's help. It was because of his usage of the chakra that I am even here in the first place! It is true that if it were not for him using the chakra, I would not be as injured as I am, but it is also a fact that without the Kyuubi's help during our fight, I would not have been able to clear my mind from the curse mark's influence in time and would have been in Orochimaru's clutches right now." Sasuke retorted to the council's charges, while the rest of the genin cried out in agreement. The Civilian Council look scandalized, their faces showed horror as the young children, especially the "last" Uchiha, were yelling in the "demon child"'s defence.

"No… The demon has corrupted the village's young! How could we have not been able to see this sooner?!" a fat, balding, male merchant bellowed.

"I am afraid they may be too far gone… as much as it pains me to say this, we must execute them as well. It is the least we can do for the poor, innocent children who have fallen into the demon's influence. May they rest in peace." A rich, lanky, man who looked as if he was just skin and bones said in dismay.

When the Civilian Council member said this, it was now Naruto and the Jōnin that yelled out in anger.

"This trial was supposed to be just about MY punishment, why are you intending to harm them as well?!" Naruto yelled in anger, his eyes starting to turn into a slightly purplish colour.

"Who do you think you are to order the execution of these twelve genin?!" Kurenai cried out, she stretched her arm to the side, gesturing to the rookie shinobi standing beside her.

"Especially when seven of which are _CLAN HEIRS_?" Asuma added, emphasizing the last two words.

"I find the missing presences of the Hokage and the Shinobi half of the Konoha Council very disturbing, as well as VERY suspicious. Making decisions such as these and then carrying them out _without_ their consent is considered treason. And is an instant sentence to death." Kakashi growled, lowering himself into a fighting stance. His lone, visible eye narrowing even more in suspicion and he moved to reveal his sharingan eye when he saw that the Civilian Council was starting to sweat nervously. Fortunately for them, Danzo had come to their rescue.

"Because of the infiltration of Orochimaru's four best ninja when they came to communicate with Uchiha Sasuke, the Hokage and Shinobi Council are out busy with both checking and upgrading every single defence this village has. We have taken it upon ourselves to deal with small matters such as these as they are busy with more important problems. With the current actions that you are doing right now, I find you three a threat to the safety of the council members present. However much of an asset you may be, we cannot have any loose cannons at this point in time.", the half-blind, elder said calmly, "No matter. Uzumaki Naruto will not get a public execution…"

The eyes of the shinobi, the Council Members and the two other Elders widened at this, and the genin started to smile.

"…instead, you Jōnin and all you traitorous genin will be executed HERE AND NOW! ANBU!"

Before the shinobi could even say anything, everyone but Naruto had a tantō shoved straight through their chests which were wielded by white-masked ANBU. The blonde could not do anything as chains wrapped around his hands and ankles, keeping him from moving. The room once again spun into a small black hole and he saw the pained expressions on the faces of his friends before they disappeared along with the Elders and Civilian Council. He was now alone, still bound in the Council Room, but there was an ANBU member in front of him who was a blue-haired male wearing a pure white mask and was kneeling with his head down.

"What the heck is going o-" but before he could finish his sentence, the walls of the room the two were in turned from white to pitch black, and red light illuminated the area. Confused, Naruto tried to take a few steps back, but the chains prevented him from doing so.

"What the f-" Naruto stopped speaking once again when he turned to the only other occupant in the room, who suddenly grew 30 feet tall, breaking the whole room except for a small piece of the floor which Naruto was standing on. The eyeholes of the ANBU mask shone an ominous yellow colour and the older shinobi's visible skin turned into a scaly and reptilian red. The bottom half of his mask broke and showed a mouth filled with sharp, jagged teeth as the transformed male gave the injured boy a menacing grin.

"It was all your fault demon… because of you, because of your WEAKNESS and lack of defiance… they died. They all had such great futures ahead of them too, especially the young genin. But their lives were taken from them at a time too soon. All because of you… I received a mission neither from the Hokage nor the Council. At first I was reluctant, but after knowing about all your wrongdoings, I am all too happy to finish it." The monster pounced on him, the last thing he saw were the evil yellow eyes and the jagged-teeth-filled mouth of the monster before-

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[Unknown Area]

"*GASP* Da- *pant*… Damn it… *pant*", a male hooded figure sprung up from their perch up on a tree inside a forest, nearly slipping off the branch they were lying on, he panted for a few minutes, his heart pounding in his chest before it finally calmed down. "*Sigh*… No sleep for this night either huh…"

The moon shone in the night sky, its light glowing bright enough to show the hooded man's appearance. The figure wore a brown, hooded cloak which was torn at the edges over an outfit comprised of an orange, short-sleeved hoodie with a black long-sleeved undershirt along with dark-blue cargo pants and red sneakers along with a face mask that cover the bottom half of his face. Covering the whole of his right arm was a tattoo of a nine-tailed fox and there were two dog tags attached to the thin chain wrapped around the male's neck. One had the kanji for "nine" engraved on one side and the kanji for "bijuu" on the other, the second tag had the Uzumaki clan symbol engraved on the front and the kanji for "Banished Demon" on the back. The figure pulled their cloak's hood off; showing spiky, yellow hair that shined in the moonlight and piercing crimson eyes that spun back into a calm cerulean. The young man sighed and laid his back to the tree once more, intending to stay awake for the rest of the night. On the branch across where the blue-eyed man was sitting on, was a blood-red, multi-tailed fox. Its eyes open and alert, staring at the mysterious character before it.

 **"** **Again, kit? After all these years, you still can't get a single wink of sleep in peace…"** it muttered, laying down on the branch and laid its head on its paws. Yawning, it said **"At least don't do anything strenuous before dawn, we can't stay in one spot for too long so we have to conserve energy. We've overstayed our welcome here for too long already."**

The young man across the fox sighed in agreement, his tense body relaxing slightly. "Yeah, Beach City is quite far away. It's also the only place we can go to right now with _him_ breathing down our necks…"

The spiky-haired figure just looked up at the sky, studying the stars and moon.

 _'This is just great… we get a chance to live in peace, and then that annoying guy shows up and keeps us from going wherever we want without having to look behind our backs…'_ the blue-eyed male thought to himself before muttering, "Well, it's night watch for me again. As always…"

He closed his eyes as he relaxed and closed his eyes. Enhancing his sensing ability, he started his usual watch on whether someone had followed them to their location or not. He absentmindedly brought a hand to above his heart when the scar upon it started to ache slightly, feeling the bump that was the strange item imbedded into his flesh. The young man, whose eyes were still closed, didn't notice the crimson eye that was studying him for a moment before closing.

 ** _'*sigh*_** ** _This was supposed to be another chance of a normal life for you… but another stupid human is making it his goal in life to make yours miserable once more…'_** The fox thought in his mind sadly. **_'You're starting to bottle up your emotions again and are starting to build up another mask, otouto. If only we could find the others that are similar to you on this planet, you would be able to talk to them without being thought of differently. And maybe, just maybe, you can create new bonds similar to the ones you once had and will start feeling the happiness you were denied in the past… Naruto.'_**

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 **IMPORTANT**

 **Crazy7634: Hey, guys! If you've read up to here, then I'd like to thank you for giving this story some of your time. If you liked it, then please do read more. If not, then I am fine with that. Everyone has their likes and dislikes, and more often than not, they vary from person to person.**

 **Now, I've received a few messages about how the ANBU managed to kill skilled Jonins whose guards up easily. The thing is, they can't do that. It's impossible. Well, not impossible, but maybe a bit on the highly unlikely side. Remember, most of the happenings when Naruto was in Konoha, in case you are one of the people who haven't realized it yet even with the repeated appearances of "black holes", are merely warped memories of that time. Sure, they still hold a bit of the truth, but they aren't completely accurate; far from it. Why? Because he was having a nightmare.**

 **There was also a message about the fact that the Civilian Council is not canon and is overused. Yes, I know that it isn't canon. ANY Naruto fan would know that. As far as we know, the only council that Konoha had was the one made up of Homura Mitokado, Danzo Shimura and Koharu Utatane. As for it being overused, well considering the size of the village, I'm pretty sure there's gotta be at least one representative for the non-shinobi faction of the village. You know, to reassure them that the trained assassins living in the same area as them won't slit their throats as they sleep. Also, no, the shinobi clans' representatives and the Hokage did not just sit back and let the civilians have their way. The civilian council's involvement in Naruto's banishment and how they managed to be able to do so will be explained in a later chapter.**

 **I hope that this message has cleared things up, and I hope to see you readers in either the future chapters of this story, or maybe in a review in my other stories. Have a good day! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yo! So, umm, Crazy7634 here. I just want to say thanks to those who followed, favourited (is this a word? XD) and reviewed this story. This is the first fanfic that I have written, so although I am inexperienced at writing fanfiction, I hope that I can make this story a really good one. Also, feel free to point out any mistakes I make and if there is something I can do to make a part of the chapter better, please tell me. Two things I think you should know, is that I made it that Naruto was fifteen when he graduated to genin, so he was fifteen when he first got to Steven's world. The other thing is that I'm sorry this chapter came out late, I had planned on getting this out on October 5** **th** **, but I got caught up. So to make up for the lateness of this update, I added more words to this chapter (and kinda, accidentally went overboard). Instead of having around 3,000 words, this now has over 5,600 words. Not including this message. So, enjoy! :P**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything, especially Naruto and Steven Universe.**

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Chapter 2 – Others Like Me

The bellows of superiors ordering their minors could be heard emanating from the forest, the loud cries and shouts came from a platoon of soldiers who were frantically searching for something, or rather, someone. They wore tinted goggles over their eyes as well as dark-blue, full-body jumpsuits with black, armoured vests which had a strange insignia that looked oddly like a skull with feathery wings stitched on the back. As they spread out to search the area, 100 feet away from them a nine-tailed fox twice the size of a normal wolf dashed through the same woods. A greenish, bleeding, blonde young man who had burn marks scattered all over his body and a horrible, deep cut on his stomach was on the fox's blood-covered back. The red quadrupedal animal's tails were the only things that kept him from falling off. The injured man's wounds were glowing a faint green. He spat out blood and wrapped his arms around his wounded stomach as pain racked his body. The fox sent a worried look to the occupant laying on his back when he heard the pained moans coming from him.

"K-Kurama… *cough*." the bleeding man rasped out, his voice was hoarse due to his coughing.

 **"Just hang in there kit, we're nearly at the next safe spot. We'll get you help soon, just hang on Naruto!"** the now named Kurama yelled out reassuringly, though it seemed as if it was trying to convince itself rather than the sick blonde. The fox's eyes lingered on the groaning figure before it turned its attention back to its front.

 _ **'** **Gaaah… How the Kami's name did they find us?!'**_ the multi-tailed creature angrily said in its head and growled as it thought back to how they ended up in this situation.

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 _[Flashback]_

 _ **'If only there were others like you…'**_ was the fox's last thought before it dozed off, intending to get a few hours of sleep before dawn. Naruto relaxed for a few more minutes before his eyes snapped open when Kurama's snores started to drift into the air. After double-checking that the bijuu was indeed asleep, he slid off the branch he was sitting on and landed silently on the forest ground. He looked left and right checking if anyone was walking by. When he sensed that no one was coming, he started to jog silently through the trees, skilfully ducking under branches and jumping slightly over stray roots and logs. After 10 minutes, the jinchūriki decided that he was far enough from his sleeping older brother before stretching, some of his joints popping as he moved.

"Ahhh, that feels a LOT better…" he grinned. It had been a while since he was able to move around freely, but he could do whatever he wanted now that Kurama was asleep. Naruto frowned slightly when he was reminded of his "dream" before shaking the thoughts out of his head. He closed his eyes and was covered in a blue light before he started to practice his jutsu. The bijuu had convinced him to not use them in scuffles against the humans in this world, not only because of the fact that they were too fragile to even withstand a weak gust from a d-ranked wind jutsu, but because they had already attracted enough attention from a crazy, human who's mentality seemed to be a mixture of Madara, Orochimaru and Danzo. Not to mention the fact that there was the _other_ stipulation to using his ninjutsu... For nearly four hours, he attempted to use bijuu chakra, practiced his taijutsu, his elemental ninjutsu, the rasengan and its variants (which he had created with Kurama's help) and last but not least… worked on his dojutsu. The shinobi fingered the dog tags hanging from his neck as he thought about his late brother. Before the black-haired boy had exhaled his last breath, the Uchiha had given him a jar filled with strange, greenish liquid that kept his Sharingan eyes inside intact. With the stunt that the village had just pulled, the dying heir knew that they could not be trusted with the power of his clan. Kurama had implanted the eyes in the first few weeks they had been on this planet. The Uzumaki sighed, and with one last Ōdama Rasengan, the blue light enveloped him again before he fell onto his back in exhaustion. Naruto panted and stared up at the black, star-filled sky, his thoughts then moving towards the first human he and Kurama ever trusted in this Earth.

Naruto and Kurama had met him when the 24-year-old was taking a stroll in the local park and was jumped by multiple armed men, the two had saved him. At that time, they had only been in this new world for three years. They spent most of the time moving around, getting acquainted with the more peaceful land and learning more about it while finding time to train in-between. The young male had thanked them profusely when the thugs were defeated, and when he found out that they didn't have a place to stay, he had insisted that they stay at his home. His name was Rīfu Uragirimono. Apparently he was from Japan, and his family's company had branched out so he had to move countries to help maintain the business. The two had actually stayed with Rīfu for two years and had grown closer to him. One day, they found out about the man's parents thinking of a better and more efficient way to power modern humanity's cars, televisions and other technologies without any backlashes. After much persuasion from Naruto to get Kurama to agree, they told him about chakra. They told him that Naruto healed faster than normal because of it, how he (Naruto) could potentially die from having chakra depletion, how the air of the planet they were on was filled with nature chakra and that even Rīfu himself had chakra inside him, albeit only a small amount. Naruto allowed Rīfu to use his machinery on him to study the energy and see if there was any way for this world to use it instead of things such as oil and electricity.

Sadly, a few days before Rīfu's 27th birthday, his parents had died on their way to visit their son due to an airplane crash. Once he learned of their deaths, Rīfu started to get colder as well as more reclusive and kept staying in his study for long periods of time. The two started to get suspicious of him when they saw that he had started to read theories on what happened to people after their death. They were glad that they had only told Rīfu about chakra and nothing about the techniques and other feats they could possibly achieve with it; when Kurama went into the human's study to investigate why he was acting so different, he found stacks of paper filled with research on the possible resurrection of his parents and had started to connect the usage of chakra to the subject. The two left as soon as possible, unfortunately not without having a last confrontation with Rīfu and saw their friend go mad. He rambled about how they had to help him, that he knew that they could somehow bring his parents back to life but didn't choose to and that they couldn't run away forever. He swore that he would get them to come back whether by force or not, and when he got them, the ex-leaf shinobi and bijuu would have to return his parents to the land of the living. A few months later, they found out that Rīfu had been true to his word, and had sent men equipped with weapons built to subdue them. After each platoon that they had disabled, they noticed that it started to get harder and harder to keep them back with just chakra-enhanced attacks and chose to try to keep to the shadows as much as they could. Using ninjutsu would just give Rīfu proof of his suspicion about their abilities and gain even more incentive on capturing them.

Naruto shook his head out of his thoughts once again, and started to close his eyes. His exhaustion was taking the better of him, and he hoped for a dreamless sleep. As the darkness began to consume his vision, his ears twitched and he heard rustling and the sound of beeping. The Jinchūriki's eyes snapped open and quickly stood up when he saw the small, round, metallic objects around him. But as he tried to leap away, he faltered slightly when he moved to jump and winced as his sore body screamed at him to stop moving. Because of his stumble, he didn't get far enough away and was caught in the explosion of the bombs. The blast made him fly back a few feet, his body looked like a ragdoll as he rolled on the ground before he managed to regain his footing. The blonde fell to a knee as he panted in exertion, one of his eyes was closed and his right hand was clutching his left arm. He quickly sent a pulse of chakra to alert Kurama before he had to flip backwards to dodge a sword that was aimed at his chest and performed a handstand, wincing again as pain shot through his left forearm. He then pushed off of the ground, continuing with another flip; dodging three more strikes. He landed on his feet and skidded a few feet back due to his momentum and many figures dropped into the clearing trapping him from all sides. He recognized the uniforms they were wearing and knew that Rīfu was the one who sent them. Naruto's cerulean orbs narrowed and the surprise in his eyes turned into seriousness when he saw the lime-green liquid coating the swords of the soldiers.

 _'Poison…'_ the exhausted shinobi thought. He saw a drop of the odd-coloured liquid fall from a soldier's sword and fall on the forest ground, Naruto tensed as he saw the grass and plants that surrounded the liquid in one metre radius die after they absorbed some of the liquid from the ground. ' _And from the looks of that dead patch of flora, it isn't just the usual run-of-the-mill paralyzing venom that Rīfu usually gets from snakes and spiders either. He probably created it himself.'_

He carefully looked at the soldiers who were already in fighting stances, waiting for them to make a move. His eyes darted to the right as he saw a soldier's foot twitch before they rocketed towards him and a few others of the platoon followed suit. Naruto ducked for a second as a kick flew above his head, he then moved his body slightly to the left and then the right as the two who aimed a punch to his head went past him and stumbled into the ground. He closed his eyes and fell onto another handstand and spun around with great velocity, his legs pointing outward, kicking the eight humans who had attempted to charge at him away. Flipping back onto his feet, Naruto opened his eyes and observed the humans around him again. He may have disabled a few of them, but there were still a lot left. His opponents were slowly edging closer towards him, he bent his knees and lowered himself into a stance as he reluctantly reached for the scabbard strapped to his back, grasping the handle of the sheathed blade hidden by his cloak. As much as he didn't want to use the weapon against humans, he didn't have a choice but to do so in this situation as the group was already charging at him once more. Instead of having a few of their members attack at different openings, they chose to attack as one. Naruto quickly pulled his weapon out and held the one-sided blade horizontally, blocking three downward slashes.

Its dark-grey metal shone under the moonlight, the sword's guard had the appearance of a golden fox head with small gems for eyes, one deep blue with the other scarlet red, and was made to make it seem as if the blade was coming out of the head's open jaws. The kanji for "Guardian" engraved on one side of the metal while the other had the kanji for "Demon". The sword's pommel was a miniature version of the Shinigami's head, it was golden like the fox head but it had ominous, pitch-black eyes. Naruto clenched his right hand which was wrapped around the sword's blood-red grip and his left hand tensed against the blunt side of the blade as the three soldiers tried to put more force into their attacks before jumping back, and a barrage of attacks was sent at the blonde. Naruto was dodging as best as he could in his condition, parrying multiple strikes, ducking down and pivoting from left to right, barely evading any serious injuries and had managed to take a few of his opponents down. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough as his adversaries were able to cut him multiple times and he could feel himself getting weaker as the poison started to affect him, he noticed his vision was blurring, his muscles were weakening and he found it getting harder to move away from the sharp, metal weapons.

 _'Damn… move, body! Why… won't… you move… faster?!'_ he yelled in his mind, he started to lose feeling on his arms and placed the sword back into its sheath. His eyes were becoming heavier and he fell to a knee, he saw Rīfu's men surround him and advance towards him once more. His vision was about to go black before a loud roar made everything pause and half of the soldiers flew past him because of the force of the call. But in a stroke of bad luck, one of the humans' swords slashed his stomach as they went by. Naruto could only see a blur of red as a large, shadow appeared and towered over him.

 **"KIT!"**

"Nii-san…" He croaked weakly, before falling forwards.

 _[End Flashback]_

* * *

Kurama shook his head out of his thoughts, and focused back on getting his little brother help as soon as possible. The bijuu saw the end of the treeline as well as the sun slowly rising in the horizon. He burst through the trees and skidded to a stop on sand.

 _ **'** **This is the beach that we were planning on using as a shortcut!'**_ Kurama's eyes widened in recognition. He heard a loud yell come from the trees behind him and he jumped onto the water without hesitation. Chakra surging through his legs, he went back to finding help as fast as possible. He flinched slightly when he heard a harsh cough from his back and pushed more and more chakra to his paws. The fox's speed increased greatly and water sprayed behind him as he rushed towards Beach City. ' _ **C'mon… HOW FAR IS THIS PLACE?!'**_

After around ten minutes of running, Kurama finally saw a silhouette of a tall mountain with an odd statue of a woman facing to his left carved onto its side and a lighthouse on top and a beach underneath it. In a few seconds, he found himself at the beach. He then leapt as high as he could and landed beside the lighthouse. Gently, his tails wrapped around Naruto and laid him against the wall of the tall structure and looked over the young man's wounds.

 _ **'** **L** **ooks like Rīfu's goons managed to give him a couple of cuts before I arrived…'**_ Kurama looked at the slice on his little brother's stomach and winced, knowing that his jinchūriki had sustained that injury because of his actions and flinched when the injured male coughed out greenish blood. ' _ **I guess his body is pushing the poison out of his system thanks to the healing ability he got from me and I can feel my chakra trying to help heal him, but Rīfu must've accounted for this during the poison's creation if it's taking this long. With the poison being already being slowly taken care of, the biggest threat to him right now is blood loss… He's already lost a lot of the stuff.'**_

The nine-tailed fox closed his eyes and frantically searched for the closest human home.

 **"The inhabitants of this area will no doubt have something that can help slow his bleeding, even if it's just a towel, it will still help!"** Kurama muttered. He was shocked when he felt an odd chakra signature underneath him. He went to the cliff-face and saw the odd statue of a four-armed woman and, more importantly, the house situated under it. The fox jumped down and went through the house's window, frantically looking around for anything that could help with his brother's current predicament while unknowingly waking the house's only occupant.

A little boy woke up from his slumber when he heard a very loud crash towards his right. He scrambled down his bed and peered over the edge of the ledge where his bedroom was at and was surprised to see a VERY large, red and slightly wet nine-tailed fox desperately searching for something in his house. While most children would be scared, this child only seemed to be curious about the creature that was bounding around and creating a general mess in his home.

"H-Hello?" the boy asked timidly. The fox froze. Its long, rabbit-like ears twitched and it turned its head towards the now-awake boy and tilted its head inquiringly while staring the boy in the eyes. "Umm… My name's Steven. Why did you break that window and what are you looking for? You're making a mess."

The fox blinked at the curly-haired boy for a few seconds, noting that the he was dressed in pyjamas, before replying to the now named Steven's questions.

 **"I apologize, for not only waking you from your sleep but for destroying your property as well, young one. I am in a hurry, I must find something that can help my injured brother."** Steven was amazed when he heard the fox talk to him, before his mind registered that the fox was looking for something that could help with injuries and he then jumped off his ledge onto the couch nearby.

"Oh! Well, when I get hurt, Pearl gets this first-aid kit thing. It has lots of stuff in it, maybe whatever you're looking for is in there?" Steven said, running towards the kitchen. He opened one of the drawers pulled out a square container with a red cross at the front and then held it out for the fox. "Here ya go!"

Kurama opened his jaws and was about to take the box out of the boy's hands when a bright light that suddenly flashed inside the house made him pause. When the light subsided, he heard three cries of "Steven!". His slitted eyes turned to where the flash had come from and saw three women getting into fighting stances and were armed with different weapons.

 _ **'I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!'**_ he growled mentally before using his jaws to take the square, metal box out of Steven's hands. He went back out through the window he broke and hurried back to Naruto, ignoring the young boy's cry of "Wait!".

The women weren't going to let the Kurama escape so easily and went after him. They had just returned from a late-night mission and had wanted to relax, but they certainly weren't expecting to see the house in such a mess with a large, bloody fox looking at Steven with its jaws wide open. Two of them ran out and jumped after the fox while the little boy managed to stop one of them.

"Wait, Pearl!" the boy pleaded, holding on the pale woman's leg. She paused and looked down at Steven.

"Steven, what are you doing?! I need to get to that fox, he tried to hurt you!" Pearl said, trying to pry the child off her leg without accidentally harming him with the spear in her hand.

"But it didn't try to hurt me! He said that he was just looking for something that could help his brother!" Steven cried, tightening his grip around the woman's leg. That made Pearl pause.

"Wait… "Said"? That fox talked to you-"

"PEARL! We're going to need your help!"

The spear-wielding woman was cut off as he heard one of the other ladies call out to her. She finally was able to take the young boy off her leg while he was distracted by the yell.

"Just wait here, Steven" She said, before going out the door and jumped up the cliff face when she saw a shadow gesture to her from the top. Pearl gasped when she saw the injured, bloody and barely conscious young man resting against the lighthouse. The fox was nudging the man's cheek with its nose, the first-aid kit still in its maw. The injured male brought his hand up to the fox's snout. He managed to form a weak eye-smile before a harsh cough was heard and blood flew through his face mask. The man's eyes turned to the strangers by the cliff face before he passed out. The fox followed his line of sight, finally noticing the three. Dropping the metal container, its eyes narrowed and moved to the front of the man protectively while growling. Noticing this, Pearl made her weapon disappear and took a few steps towards the fox.

"Easy… I just want to take a look at him. I won't hurt him, I just want to see if I can help him." Pearl said slowly, her hands held up in a placating manner. She saw it gain a slightly surprised look after seeing the pearl embedded in her forehead before the fox looked her in the eye, making her feel as if it was peering into her soul. After a few seconds, the animal nodded and startled her and the other two by speaking.

 **"I will allow it. But only you are permitted to go closer. I do not trust you, and if you do anything to hurt him, I will erase you."** It grunted, lowering its stance before moving away. Pearl went to the blonde's side and examined his cuts which glowed a slightly greenish colour. She turned to the fox.

"We're going to have to clean his wounds along with the blood and grime on him before wrapping them in bandages to prevent infection. Infection is the last thing he needs in this condition. We also need to see if we can analyse the poison in his body and check if there is anything we can do about it. But to do this, we need to bring him inside and your help as well as Garnet and Amethyst's would also be very useful. Are you fine with that?" she asked the quadruped.

 **"...Fine."** Kurama replied. Although he didn't sense any negative emotions in the three, he was still suspicious of them. With their experience with humans in this world, it was better to be safe than sorry… yet something in Kurama told him that these three weren't exactly human. But as long as his little brother would get the help he desperately needed, he would let these strangers go near him.

* * *

[Two Hours Later]

The now clean and bandaged Naruto was laying on Steven's couch, his ripped cloak, hoodie and undershirt was off along with his sword and scabbard, showing his heavily bandaged torso. Kurama was sat on his haunches beside him, no longer covered in blood and was standing vigil over his currently vulnerable little brother. He managed to find out the identities of the three women. The short, purple-skinned one with snow-white hair wearing a dark-grey tank top with a black singlet underneath, black pants which were had ripped holes the shape of stars on the knees and white shoes was called Amethyst. The tall, maroon-skinned, sunglass-wearing woman with square-shaped ebony hair and wore a bodysuit was called Garnet. And the final female who was pale with a peach-coloured pixie-cut and wore an outfit that reminded him of what those humans who called themselves "ballerinas" wore was called Pearl. Kurama knew these three were not human, their appearance gave it away, but the most convincing fact was the strange chakra signatures that they let out. He couldn't put his finger (or paw) on it, but although their energy signals were similar to what he sensed from other humans, theirs were… unique and felt just like the energy signatures that came from the small orb in his otouto's chest. From what he could sense, the energy they used was similar to chakra, but had a few major differences. An example would be that they would never suffer from depletion of the energy but the drawback was that the amount of things they could do with it was limited not to mention that the energy they used was weaker compared to chakra. His thoughts went to the little boy, Steven. He seemed to have an odd mixture of both chakra and whatever those other three used. Kurama sighed, thinking about how long it would take for his brother to wake up and how bored he was before his long ears twitched and he was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the two others who were inside the house whisper to themselves. Steven was still outside with Amethyst, they had decided to get him out two hours ago so that he couldn't see the condition Naruto was in when they took him into the house.

"I don't know Garnet, there's just something weird about them. I mean, that human shouldn't have survived that many injuries, especially with that large slice on his stomach. His body is even pushing the poison out by itself. I took a look at the poison, one drop would've been able to kill two elephants! He should've been dead the moment he got even the tiniest of scratches. He even had a sword hidden behind his cloak!" Pearl whispered to the taller Gem in the kitchen, ignorant of the fact that Kurama could hear every word they said.

"Hmm… Yes, that definitely causes suspicion. I have tried to use my future vision to see what they could be up to, but I can't seem to see anything at all. Yet if I try to use it without taking them into account, it works properly. But if they were here for any other reason than because one of them was hurt, then the fox would have done something to us by now. It is highly intelligent, the fact that it can speak a human language is proof of that." Garnet replied glancing at the fox's back, noting that it had nine tails. The fact that they had so little information on them worried her and made her wonder who exactly they were and what happened to the two that had resulted in the unconscious male sustaining such serious injuries. "We should talk to them once the human wakes up, we know so little about them. If they show signs of hostility, then we'll take care of them."

"Yes, I do want to know about the slightly torn bandages around the man's chest as well as that bloody mask on his face. I tried to take them off to replace them, but the fox stopped me as if they were some sort of important secret." Pearl said as she nodded in agreement when the door suddenly slammed open. Pearl and Garnet along with Kurama turned their heads towards the door, only to see Steven underneath Amethyst as she had tackled the little boy to the ground and was currently giving him a noogie.

"Hahaha! Amethyyyyst! Stop it!" Steven laughed, trying to get the purple girl off of him.

"What, you can't handle my awesomeness Steven?" She smirked in return, before finally standing up and pulling the boy back onto his feet. Steven giggled for a few seconds, before his eyes landed on Kurama and quickly ran towards him.

"Hey, Mr. Fox, you're back!" he jumped onto Kurama's back, wrapping his short arms around his furry neck. Somehow firing question after question in a single breath. "I've got tons of questions! Like, what's your name, who's your brother, why was he hurt, why are you red, why are you so big, why do you have nine ta-"

The young child was cut off when Kurama picked him up using his tails and placed him down on the floor while chuckling, deciding to humour the innocent child he answered his questions.

 **"At ease, little one. Now, as for your questions, my name is Kurama. The one lying on your couch is called Naruto and bad people had attacked him while I was sleeping. Why I am red and have nine tails? I was born this way. As for my size, I guess you could say that I am special."** He shrunk into the size of a normal fox kit before returning to his previous height. Steven looked up at Kurama in amazement.

"Woaaah… That's so cool! Can you pleeease give me a ride on your back? Please, please, pleeeease!" he pleaded, giving Kurama the puppy dog eyes. Said fox just chuckled once more before lifting Steven with his tails and placed the boy on his back, grateful that he had cleaned the blood off of it earlier, and stood up from his sitting position. He ran around the inside of the house, jumping a few times, his tails making sure that the laughing child didn't fall off.

 _ **"Hmm… maybe waiting for Naruto to wake up won't be so boring after all…'**_

* * *

[Two Weeks Later]

Kurama was woken up from the nap he was taking underneath the now fixed window when he heard groaning coming from the couch, he rolled over and ignored it before going back to sleep.

"W-What the… Where am I?" someone croaked out.

Upon hearing the voice, Kurama's head sprung up. He leapt to his feet and was now wide awake. He turned towards his little brother, who was hissing in pain as he slowly sat up on the couch. He quickly went to help him up, and made sure that he was in a position that didn't re-open the wound on his stitched stomach.

 **"Kit, you're finally awake!"** He yelled, nuzzling his head against the blonde's chest.

"Heheh. What, did you think that the poison was enough to kill me? I'm INVINCIB- OW!"  
Naruto had tried to punch the air, but pain had suddenly shot from his stomach.

 **"Damn it, take it easy! You JUST woke up from a two week sleep. If you don't, I'll knock you back into unconsciousness."** Kurama growled. **"Right now, we're in Beach City. The four inhabitants of this home were generous enough to let us stay here while you were out of it."**

The temple door opened, the three gems walked out to investigate the commotion that they had heard. They saw the conscious Naruto talking to Kurama and walked over towards them, the bandaged blonde blushed slightly at the sight of a certain pale gem.

"Ah, you're awake. Now, while we will allow you to stay here as you are still injured, we need to ask a few questions first." Pearl said.

"Yeah, like what the heck happened to you guys that got you all jacked up?" Amethyst asked bluntly.

"Yes, and who or what are you really? We analysed the poison that was affecting you, you should have been dead long before you had reached the lighthouse. There is also the matter of Kurama being able to speak as well as change his size." Garnet spoke in a stoic voice. Naruto scratched the back of his head, chuckling nervously and chose to reply. After all, they did help take care of him.

"Well, to answer those questions in order, we were heading towards Beach City and took a break, Kurama dozed off and I left to go stretch my legs when I was attacked by strange sword-wielding humans wearing blue jumpsuits. As for the poison, well, I'm not your average human. My body heals quite quickly from any sort of damage. From what Kurama told me, it's been two weeks since I was attacked, and considering the fact that I still have this slice in my stomach, then that means that my healing probably focused on the poison. Which is why I'm not dead. Kurama has been able to talk ever since he was born, but the changing size thing I can't really tell you much about. No offence, but although you guys let us stay here while I was unconscious, we still don't trust you that much. We've had experience in the past with trusting others on the subject, and let's just say that it didn't end up well…" He answered, trying to not be too specific in his answers.

"Alright… but do you know why these "sword-wielding humans" attacked you?" It was Pearl who asked this question, if there were humans out there that would do that much damage to another human being, she was worried at what they were aiming to do.

"Uhh, yeah… It has something to do with the thing that lets Kurama change sizes. We had befriended a human and had trusted him with the information after staying with him for a few years. Long story short, things happened and now we're running away from him. He's the one who sent those other humans. I guess, now you know why we aren't that enthusiastic about trusting others, eh?" the last sentence was said with a slight undertone of sadness. The three gems could only blink at this, not knowing what to say before Garnet spoke up.

"Okay, that answers all of our questions. We will leave you alone for now, you still need rest. But know this. While you two may stay here while Naruto recovers, if you show signs of hostility, we will not hesitate to put you down." She said before they went back into the temple. Naruto and Kurama stared at the closing door for a minute before they turned to each other.

 **"You noticed it too, didn't you?"**

"Yes, they are definitely not human. But, those gems and their energy is similar to…" Naruto's words drifted off as he looked down at his bandaged torso, he moved the bandages around his chest and stared at the half tanzanite and half red beryl orb embedded above his heart.


	3. Chapter 3

**YO! Crazy7634 here. Thank you again to those who followed, favourited (seriously, I need a better word than this XD) and reviewed this story. I am also sorry that this chapter was late like the last one. Due to my school holidays ending, I haven't had much time to write because of the amount of free time school takes away from me and unfortunately because of this, future chapters will most likely be late as well. Plus, because this chapter was waaay later than the last one, it is longer than the last one to compensate. Don't get used to it though, because sadly, not all chapters will be as long as this one… But, on the bright side, this chapter is out now. So, ENJOY! :D**

 **(Also, please tell me if I have made any mistakes in this chapter or if there is something I can do to improve it.)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything, especially Naruto and Steven Universe.**

* * *

Chapter 3 - Foxes Are Awesome

 **"** **YOU WANT TO WHAT?!"** a certain fox whispered loudly to his little brother, he was sat in front of Naruto who was hunched over on the couch. The young man's elbows were propped on his knees and his chin was resting on his steepled fingers as he looked down at the ground; his blood-covered mask was changed into a clean one. It had been around two hours since the Gems had interrogated Naruto and the clock showed 6:24 p.m. Since then, he and Kurama had been discussing ideas about how to deal with Rīfu. After sifting through multiple ways that they could handle the situation, Naruto had thought of a plan, a preposterous and downright near-impossible plan, but a plan nonetheless.

"Unless you have a better idea, you know that it's the only way we can do this. You must remember that killing others is frowned upon in this world and the consequences of doing so are severe." He replied harshly, his voice also lowered like Kurama's so that the others could not overhear their conversation.

 **"** **But using** _ **that**_ **jutsu? It took that Hokage nearly** _ **ten years**_ **to create that technique and actually make it work, yet it still has many flaws. What you're saying is that you want to change the most crucial factor it needs and you yourself know that by taking it away, you're essentially creating a whole new jutsu rather than editing one. It's ludicrous! It could take us the same amount of time it took to create the technique in the first place, possibly even more just to do so."**

"May be, but unlike its original creator, we have things that can help speed up the jutsu's recreation drastically. You have had two Uzumaki jinchūriki before me, who themselves were seal masters, so you have lots of information on sealing. Not to mention that one of which lived in the same timeline as this technique's original creator and helped in its production. There is also the fact that not only am I an Uzumaki seal master, we could also ask _them_ to help us with this. If those two accept, then that would make this project a LOT easier." The blonde reasoned. Although he didn't like the jutsu, he knew he would have to use it. Kurama knew this too. Rīfu wouldn't listen to them, but the duo knew who he _would_ listen to. If they were going to try to make Rīfu see reason, they would need _their_ assistance when speaking to him.

 **"** ***sigh* Fine… we will work on this for now, but if a more efficient way to handle this pops up, then we will do that instead. Alright?"** Kurama sighed in resignation. **"Still, before we start on this, you need to rest. While the poison is mostly gone, your body is still healing from its effects, so your other injuries will have to take at least a week to fully heal-"**

Kurama's ears twitched and Naruto looked up from the floor when their sharp ears heard rapid footsteps moving up the stairs outside as someone headed towards the house. The door opened and a black-haired little boy who was around the height of Amethyst's shoulders walked in. He wearing a pink t-shirt that had a gold star stitched on the front along with dark-blue pants and pink sandals. His eyes widened and stars appeared inside them as a large smile grew on his face when he saw that Naruto was awake and immediately ran towards him excitedly.

"Hello! My name's Steven Universe, Kurama told me yours was Naruto! He also said that you were hurt because you guys were fighting other people before you were brought here by him and the Crystal Gems. That means you know how to fight, right? If yes, can you please show me some tricks? Also, I haven't seen you around here before, are you a two-wrist? If you are then where are you from?" he asked. His eyes were shining as he was eager to learn more about the mysterious, injured, masked man who was brought into his home.

 _'_ _Hmm… so they call themselves the Crystal Gems, eh?'_ Naruto thought, storing the information into his head. He sweatdropped, _'It also seems that this kid can't say "tourist" that well…'_

"Yes, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. You are right to say that I am not from here, but I am not a tourist. Where I come from is a place that I will not be able to return to, though the language that my former home uses is what you people call Japanese" he said, ruffling the boy's hair with his hand as he smiled at the child's innocence. "As for being able to fight, yes, I do know how to defend myself. I would show you, but as you can see, I am not in the right shape to do anything at the moment."

"Coool! Hey, hey, since you can't really move yet, can you teach me some attack moves when you're not hurt anymore? Pleaaaaaaaaaaase?" He looked up at the blonde, his eyes sparkling even more. Naruto just chuckled at this and ruffled Steven's hair once more.

"We'll see, kiddo. We'll see."

The temple door slid open as the Gems entered the room and Steven found himself in a chokehold while he was being given a noogie by Amethyst. Garnet and Pearl were walking calmly towards them, they had small smiles as they shook their heads at their antics.

"Heeey, Steven! About time you got back from Greg's place, just in time for dinner too! So, how was spending time with your dad? You had fun?" Amethyst snickered, until she was pulled off of the boy by Garnet.

 _'_ _If his dad is here, then why doesn't live with him instead? There is also the fact that his mother seems to be missing…'_ he thought about asking them why before choosing to keep silent and observe the four who shared the same aura as the orb embedded into his chest.

"Come on Steven, it's time to eat."

* * *

[3 Hours Later]

The rest of the day went on quite normally and the clock now showed 9:03 p.m. Naruto was laying on the couch, his arms behind his head as he looked up at the roof while Kurama already fast asleep by his feet. Tonight, there would be no aggressive wild animals, no assault squads from Rīfu, and no looking behind his back in case of followers. It was a nice change of pace for Naruto. He breathed in deeply before exhaling as he relaxed and reviewed his day. The most negative thing that happened to him today would be the distrustful gazes that the three other adults in the house often gave him. He knew that although he had told them the truth when they had asked him questions, the Crystal Gems were still suspicious of him; if their wary glances were anything to go by. But he understood that their suspicion was only because they didn't want anything to happen to those precious to them, Steven to be precise. Although he wasn't in the Elemental Nations anymore, he still practised the skills that every ninja had to learn. One of the most important to learn was knowing how to read your enemy to either gauge how powerful they were or to see if they had negative intentions. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, he had already mastered the skill at a young age. If he hadn't he most likely wouldn't have lived past his seventh birthday…

The blue-eyed boy's face gained a slight frown when he remembered his childhood before he regained his composure and his thoughts drifted back to the Crystal Gems. From how the three females held themselves, they were definitely experienced in fighting. If he were to judge from the amount of energy they expelled, they would probably be around Jōnin level in his old world. With their familiarity to combat, he could tell that they had been through life-or-death situations before and judging from the emotions he saw they tried to hide behind their eyes, they knew about the pain of the loss. He could also tell that they cared quite a lot for little Steven, given that when he let the child sit on his shoulders or whenever he interacted with the kid they had tensed and looked ready to rush at him should he have caused the boy any harm. Naruto's eyes softened and he smiled as he thought about how lucky the Steven was to have such protective caretakers.

' _So, there really are others like me, huh? I thought they were just pulling my leg…'_ He rubbed the gem that was hidden under the bandages on his chest. The blonde reminisced about the happy times with his late family, his small smile still on his face before it was wiped away as he flinched when he felt his eyelids become heavier. His body was pleading for him to sleep.

 _'*sigh* Well, this day has been pretty good so far, I just hope that I can have some peaceful rest after all these years… Heh, yeah right…'_ Naruto thought sadly before letting his vision go black, not knowing that Kurama had woken up and heard what he had thought.

 **"** **Kit…"**

* * *

[2:46 a.m.]

A pair of alert azure orbs snapped open in the darkness and Naruto sprang up from his position on the couch, panting heavily. He sat with his back against the staircase before he twisted his body and let his feet touch the floor as he placed his head into his hands, muttering.

"Just like the other days huh…" He breathed slowly, trying to relax his tense body; too busy trying to calm down to notice that the temple door had slid open and a thin figure was walking out.

 _'Ahhh, that's better,'_ Pearl thought, her eyes were closed as she stretched her arms upwards and bent her spine back slightly, feeling some joints pop. She had been meditating under her favourite tree ever since Steven went to bed and her body felt quite stiff due to not moving for a quite a while. She let her arms down, her joints now feeling looser than they had been and opened her eyes, which then widened in surprise when she saw Naruto awake. ' _What is he doing up?'_

"Naruto? Why are you still awake, it isn't healthy for a human to deprive themselves of sleep, especially one in your condition?" Pearl asked, voicing her thoughts. She saw Naruto flinch, his head snapping up; his gaze turning from the floor to her, she could see the shock evident in his cerulean eyes.

"I-I… Uh… I just have trouble sleeping sometimes. That's all." He said, cursing himself in his mind for stuttering. "I'll get back to sleep soon, I… just wake up at sudden moments sometimes. After what just happened with me ending up like this, it's quite hard to sleep peacefully, you know?"

"Hmm, I guess you're right," She replied, a bit doubtful about his response. "But you really should get to sleep, rest is very important to someone who is as injured as you."

"Yeah, I'll get back to sleep right away…" he was about to lay back down on couch before a thought occurred in his head. "Hang on, why are YOU up? Although you aren't injured, wouldn't YOU need some shuteye as well?"

Pearl stiffened and struggled to come up with a response, her unease growing even more when Naruto narrowed his eyes warily. ' _Dang it, what am I supposed to say?!'_

"Urm, well… I'm just used to not sleeping that much, I don't need the energy that sleep gives. Neither do Garnet and Amethyst." The peach-haired Gem answered, hoping that the whiskered male would drop the subject.

 _'Heh, "don't need the energy, eh? Probably because of that orb in your forehead…'_

She grew even more nervous when the Uzumaki didn't reply, especially because his eyes were still narrowed in suspicion. They stared at each other for a few minutes before Naruto relented.

"…Alright. Well, like you said, I need sleep. Good night."

"Good Night." Pearl did a mental sigh of relief as she saw him finally move to go back to sleep

 _'Oh jeez, that was close… I just hope he won't be curious and will start to ask questions.'_ She thought.

* * *

[Naruto's Mindscape]

 **"** **Kit, you know that the pale vixen was right about you holding back on rest. Although staying in your mindscape helps with regaining your strength, meditating for hours isn't a good replacement for sleeping."** Kurama sat in front of his cross-legged little brother in the middle of a forest clearing. He was happy that his otouto had changed the appearance of his mind years ago. It was no longer a massive sewer area. It was now a large, grassy field that had three mountains in the background surrounded by a lush, green forest with trees nearly half the height of one of Kurama's legs when the fox was in his actual size.

"I know nii-san, I know… But what can I do? At this point in time, it's the only way I can go about this. Especially when you won't let me take those sleeping pills that I got a while back…" The jinchūriki said, looking down at the grass, not wanting to look Kurama in the eye.

 **"** **I don't allow you because you plan on taking them every night! Healing ability or not, taking those pills that often isn't healthy for you. You may not age, or gain any sickness, but you still need proper rest!"** His older brother growled in reply.

"Alright, I understand…" Naruto continued to look down dejectedly. Seeing the expression on the young man's face, Kurama's fierce look softened before he sighed.

 **"** **I don't know why you still get nightmares of that day after all these years, you know it wasn't your fault and that they don't blame you for it. Do you really still feel guilty about their deaths, even though they had already told you themselves that they never even thought of you as the cause of their demise?"** The bijuu asked, sighing again when his little brother just kept his gaze on the ground beneath them before leaving the mindscape.

* * *

[Real World, 8:14 a.m.]

[First Day of Naruto's Recovery Week]

The fox's eyes fluttered open in the real world. He saw that the Crystal Gems were already awake. Garnet was leaning against the fridge, Amethyst and Steven were sitting at the dinner table, the boy eating a bowl of cereal and Pearl was stood beside the sink. He did a cat-like stretch, then shook his body similar to how dogs did when they were wet, before moving towards his brother's head.

 _ **"** **Naruto, time for you to "wake up". The others are already here."** _ He told his brother through their mental link, using his snout to nuzzle his sibling's face, his fur poking the other male's face.

"Urrgghh… Alright, alright, I'm up." The whiskered blonde said, using a hand to push the fox's muzzle away while the other tried to rub the exhaustion out of his eyes. Naruto tried to stand up, pushing a hand against the side of the staircase, but was forced to lurch forward as pain shot through his stomach and was pushed back down onto the couch by an irritated Kurama. He turned towards the four residents of the house sitting at the dinner table who had stopped and looked at him when he tried to stand. "Good Morning."

"Morning."

"Sup!"

"Good Morning to you too."

"MORNING NARUTO!"

Naruto smiled slightly under his mask at the difference of their responses. Garnet still spoke in a stoic voice, Amethyst answered casually then shoved an empty cereal box in her mouth, Pearl's voice had a bit of formality in it and Steven just yelled and had a huge smile on his face after. He watched Pearl pick up the bowl and spoon on the kitchen counter and walked over towards him.

"Here, have some breakfast. I'm not sure what you usually eat, but this is the only food that we have for this time of day." She said, placing the bowl in his left hand and the spoon on his right. He looked down and saw that the bowl was filled with cereal.

"No, it's fine. Cereal is actually quite good. I don't usually have anything much for breakfast anyway, and that's when I actually get to have some." He chuckled, placing the spoon in the bowl and scratching the back of his head with his eyes closed. Not noticing Amethyst and Steven's shared glance, the slightly worried expression Pearl sent him, Kurama's saddened look and Garnet's raised eyebrow. He stopped scratching his head and saw that everyone looking at him. "Uhh… is something wrong?"

Pearl snapped out of her slight trance and asked a question, "What do you mean "when I actually to have some", what's preventing you from being able to do something as important as eating?"

"Oh, uh… well, you know, those humans after me." He replied, slightly wishing that he hadn't revealed that little bit of information. "Kurama and I were quite paranoid out there, on most days we usually slept in the mornings and woke up at around 5 o'clock afternoon to continue travelling in the night."

Garnet narrowed her eyes, "These… humans, will they come here to get to you?"

"Uhh… I-" Naruto blinked, not knowing what to say. Luckily, Kurama was expecting them to ask something like this. After all, strangers that have assassins being sent after them would obviously cause danger to those who they had interacted with.

 **"Well, the only reason that they had managed to find us is because we had been using a city as a shortcut. We saw people assaulting a man in an alley for information on something and took them down. Unfortunately those people had been asking about us and had immediately informed Rīfu about our location who then sent the soldiers around the area after us. We had lost them in a forest far away from here and used a beach to escape. He only station soldiers in large cities and busy places. If he sent them into areas where people know each other quite closely, such as Beach City, they would be seen as suspicious. So no, he won't be coming here."** Kurama interjected, smirking inside as he heard his little brother sigh in relief through their link. The square-haired woman raised an eyebrow before nodding in acceptance and turning towards the odd, circular pad which seemed to be made out of crystal. After seeing Amethyst grab a plate to literally eat and Pearl try to stop her from doing so, Naruto began to eat his cereal with Steven doing the same. No one noticing that the spoon was going through the cloth of his face mask, a genjutsu being the only thing keeping the others from seeing his whiskered cheeks.

He saw the three females go to the pad ten minutes later, disappearing in a flash of light; leaving him, Steven and Kurama alone in the house. A few minutes later, he finished eating. He tried to stand up to put the bowl in the sink but was stopped by Kurama's tails which grabbed the bowl in his hand and his elder brother went to the sink for him. Sighing, he leaned back on the couch, staring at the ceiling. His ears twitched slightly when the sound of flip flops reached his them, cobalt irises moved downward only to see a certain curly-haired little boy.

"Hello there, young one. Do you need something?" He asked.

"Uhhh, you said last night that you wouldn't be able to move that much and the Crystal Gems already left to do gem stuff, so you wanna play video games and watch TV in my room with me?" The boy looked up at him, his eyes were wide and he had managed to somehow replace his pupils with stars. Naruto just chuckled at the child's adorableness.

"Of course, but…" He paused looking up on the ledge where Steven's room was. "…your room's up there. Hmmm, Kurama, mind giving us some help?"

He heard a chuckle emanate from his brother through their connected minds. The red quadruped picked him up gently with his tails and jumped up onto the ledge, he placed the bandaged Naruto against the foot of Steven's bed before laying down to the blonde's right. The little boy scrambled up the stairs with two large bags of popcorn. Grabbing two controllers, he placed one in Naruto's hand as he turned the TV on and put the disc for the game "Golf Quest, Multiplayer" in the console. They stayed on Steven's ledge for hours, laughing at certain parts of the game before they finally finished the game and took a break during the afternoon. Naruto looked down at the boy sitting beside him, his face forming a grin, Kurama knew that it was the same grin that he hadn't seen in years. He ruffled the boy's hair and spoke.

"Well, the game's done. It seems though that it is time for lunch," He said, looking at the clock that now showed 1:52 p.m. he then turned to the empty paper bags that had held the popcorn earlier. "Now the question is what are we going to eat?"

"Well, usually I go to the town and either get some fries or pizza! Sometimes both…" Steven smiled, staring up at the older male, his sentence made both brothers look at the child.

"They let you go outside alone?! That is quite irresponsible…" Naruto nearly yelled, he and Kurama were stumped as to why they would actually allow him to do so.

"Well, yeah. Everyone in this town knows each other. No one really gives other people trouble, the ones who do are the people Pearl said were too- to- two-"

 **"Tourists?"** Kurama interjected.

"Yeah, those!"

The Uzumaki remained silent and thought about what he had just heard. He didn't really like the idea of Steven going out alone, even if he was used to it. But he couldn't cook anything in his condition, and Kurama obviously couldn't due to being a quadruped and all, so he made a compromise. The twenty year old reached into his pants pocket, pulling out his wallet. He took out fifty dollars and gave it to the little boy.

"Steven, could you go get us some food? Kurama and I aren't picky but we do eat quite a lot, so you could just get whatever you'd like. You can go wild with whatever you buy, but here's the catch. Although you go out by yourself often, I'm not that comfortable with that fact. So, Kurama is going to have to go with you, alright?" The kid's attention switched from his face to Kurama's when he saw the fox nod.

"Okay, I promise to be back as soon as possible!" Steven beamed, letting out a "Woah!" when Kurama changed into a brown, one-tailed fox and then ran outside with the normal-looking fox in tow.

* * *

[With Steven and Kurama]

Steven laughed as he ran ahead towards Fish Stew Pizza, his eyes closed in his joy while Kurama kept an eye on him. The fox walked calmly behind the eager child, holding a filled plastic bag in his maw. They had already been to Beach Citywalk Fries had bought three large bags of fry bits. Steven was very happy, there were finally people who he could spend time with! Sure, the Crystal Gems and his Dad always tried spend as much time as they could with him, but their professions as Earth's protectors and the car-wash manager respectively took away most of their time.

"Hey, come on, you know you wanna go out with me…"

"I said no already!"

Though the voices reached his ears, the boy was too lost in his own thoughts to notice the taller figures in front of him and crashed into someone, making him fall on his butt.

"OI! Watch where you're going twerp!"

"Steven, are you okay?" the angry yell from an unfamiliar voice went passed his head but the concerned shout from Kiki Pizza made his eyes snap open and look up. He saw five unknown figures looking at him, three of them male and the other two female, dressed in an odd, white uniforms with black belts tied around their waists. He turned to the right to see Kiki, the nice older girl who always took his orders and kept him company while he waited, was held against the Fish Stew Pizza wall. One of the oddly-dressed males, who he distinctly remembered as the one who he crashed into, had his left hand placed to the left of her head as is right was clenched into a fist beside his hip.

"Hey, Kiki! I'm fine. What's going on?" Steven tilted his head in confusion. Before Kiki could say anything, the boy in front of her interrupted.

"Gah, beat it kid! Whatever's happening here ain't none of your business." The young Universe looked up at the older boy, he noticed that he had black hair and dark-brown eyes that had an angry look in them as a frown was etched onto his face.

"But, whatever you're doing is making Kiki nervous… and I can't leave yet, me and Kurama still have to get some pizza." The strange, angry boy made a motion to hit Steven before his eyes widened.

"Wait… Kurama?" he asked before the five strangers and Kiki flinched when they heard a fierce growl.

"Yeah, Kurama!" Steven smiled innocently, pointing behind them.

The six older children slowly turned around and saw a large, growling and very angry fox. Instantly, without hesitation, the boy along with the four with him ran away in fear yelling "This isn't over!" without looking back. Kurama huffed and sat on his haunches, his enraged expression transformed into a mildly miffed one, his gaze still on the five retreating figures.

 _'What isn't over?'_ Steven thought before he walked up to Kurama and hugged his left leg, giggling.

"Hey, big guy. About time you got here!" black-haired child turned towards to the frozen Pizza twin. "Kurama, this is Kiki. She always takes my orders whenever I go here. Kiki meet Kurama, he's living with me and the Crystal Gems for now!"

"H-He-Hello?" she stuttered fearfully, pressing herself as close as she could against the wall as said fox just nodded in greeting.

"Kiki! We got a big order today, one Meat Lover's pizza, one Hawaiian pizza, one Pepperoni pizza and one Vegetarian pizza. ALL LARGE!"

Kiki stared at the animal Steven was hugging so casually for a few seconds before sprinting into the shop to get their order, managing a shaky and barely audible "okay". The other two waited outside as Kurama was too big to fit through the door. When the hard-working Pizza twin came back out, she was greeted with the sight of Steven being tossed up in the air, caught, then being thrown again by the smirking brown fox's large tail; the child laughing as the fox did so. When she was finally noticed by the duo, Steven was launched so high that he had went past the Fish Stew Pizza roof and was caught by the back of his shirt collar by Kurama's fangs on the way down. The flip-flop wearing boy grabbed the four boxes of pizza, placing the payment into the still mesmerized girl's open hands.

"See ya, Kiki!" Steven giggled as he felt the warmth of the fry bits against his back. "Okay Kurama, mush!"

* * *

[With Naruto]

 _'Hmm, those two are taking quite a while…'_ Naruto thought, staring out the window by Steven's bed. He faced the TV again, laying his head on bed. He was about to try to take a quick nap to alleviate his boredom when a sudden flash of white light filled his vision and he heard an odd swoosh sound along with Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst's voices.

"Well, that thing won't be bothering anyone anymore…" He heard Pearl say.

"Mm, at least by bubbling them they won't reform." Garnet added.

"Yeah, yeah. Mission time is over. Now… YO STEVEN!" Amethyst voiced, bellowing out the last part. She spoke up again after not hearing a response, scanning the house for any sign of the boy. "Steven?"

Sighing, he made himself known, diverting the trio's attention towards him. "Steven isn't here."

"Where is he then?" Garnet inquired. "If you did something to him-"

"Oi, oi… don't go around jumping to conclusions like that. The kid's out getting lunch, I gave him some money and sent him out because, as you can see, I am not able to move freely at the moment. If you're worried about his safety then relax, I sent Kurama to watch over him." Naruto drawled out lazily. The gem was about to ask more questions when Kurama burst through the door, still holding Steven by the collar using his jaws. Said little boy gasped in happiness at the sight of the Crystal Gems.

"You guys are back early!" Kurama, who was back to his usual form, released him and he dropped down onto his feet. He ran towards the three women with the pizza boxes still in his hands. "You're just in time for lunch, are you guys gonna join us?"

"Heck, yeah!"

"…Okay."

Everyone's eyes turned to the only gem who hadn't responded. Pearl never liked to eat, mostly due to the process of digestion their physical forms had to undergo. Although she did eat a bit once-in-a-while, digestion just felt nauseating to her. She wanted to say no. That she didn't want to eat, but one look at Steven's puppy dog eyes made her will crumble.

"Fine, I guess I'll eat as well." She sighed. The little boy's face lit up at her answer.

"AL-RIIIGHT! C'mon, let's eat in my room. That way, we can watch Lonely Blade I & II while we eat!"

The rest of the day flew past, any scepticism and wariness they had of each other was forgotten in favour of enjoyment and relaxation. If anyone walked past their area of the beach, boisterous sounds of jokes and laughter could be heard radiating from the secluded home. Again, no one noticing that the food the blonde ate went straight through his mask.

* * *

[Second Day of Naruto's Recovery Week]

Naruto and Steven were laying against Kurama's side as they watched "Crying Breakfast Friends".

 _"Nii-san, do you understand what's happening in this show?"_ The two brothers sweat dropped, staring at the weeping pancake running around on the TV.

 _ **"** **Your guess is as good as mine otouto…"**_ They heard laughter and turned the young Universe beside them.

 _"Heh, at least he's happy."_

 _ **"** **Mm Hmm."**_

The three paused their watching of television when they heard the temple door open. Amethyst stepped out, trying to inconspicuously hide the large water balloon behind her back. Keyword would be "trying".

"Hey guys!" she yelled, letting out a not-so-subtle mischievous snicker. "Can one of you do me a favour and jump down onto the couch for me?"

The two brothers just deadpanned at the white-haired girl.

 _'_ _Does she seriously think that one of us would fall for such an obvious-'_ Naruto stopped his mental rant when Steven happily jumped down onto the couch and walked towards Amethyst who then threw the object at his face. The child's surprised reaction towards the "hidden" water balloon caused the brothers to face fault while the purple-skinned gem just fell to the floor and roared in laughter.

"Aww man, Amethyyyyst! Why do you always gotta prank me?" Steven whined.

"I'll keep on doing tricks like this as long as you're still gullible enough to fall for them." She retorted, still on the floor as her guffaws made her unable to stand up. After a few more minutes of laughter, the gem managed to calm herself.

"Ahhh, okay, that was fun. I'll see you three later!" she giggled out, going back into the temple, towards her room. The jinchūriki and bijuu pulled their faces off of the ground and gave the mumbling boy an incredulous look from their perch on the ledge. Steven felt that he was being watched and looked towards the two off-worlders.

"What is it?" He asked them, reaching into the cupboard attached to the stairs for a new shirt.

"You fell for that? It was quite obvious that she was trying to hide something behind her back, with her having to turn around a few times so that she could stop the balloon from dropping." Naruto said, with Kurama nodding in agreement beside him. Steven just looked up at them innocently with wide eyes, now wearing a dry shirt.

"It was? Man… I never see these things!" Steven pouted, his arms crossed in front of him as he plopped down on the floor. Naruto chuckled at him and shared a glance with Kurama, communicating with his brother mentally.

 _"So, should we show them why foxes are the most sneakiest and cunning animals in any world?"_

 _ **"Heheh, of course we should! Although you're still recovering, that doesn't mean we can't have any fun while waiting."**_

 _"YES! Okay, here's what we're going to do..."_

Steven went up the stairs only to see that the brothers had shifted their gazes away from each other and were now looking towards him, the matching mischievous glints in their eyes gave him a foreboding feeling as a chill went up his spine.

* * *

[A Few Minutes Later]

"Okay, that should be it." Naruto muttered, inspecting a thin, nearly invisible string of ninja wire that lead up to the beams above his head as he attached a couple of chakra strings on a few objects. "Kurama, are there any faults in the seal?"

Kurama tilted his head upwards from the sealing matrix on the floor, drawn just in front of the temple door. **"Everything seems to be in order."**

 _'Kai!'_ the Uzumaki whispered in his head with a hand seal, making the array activate and become invisible. "Okay, let's go to Steven."

The fox picked Naruto up and headed to the porch outside where the boy was currently waiting for them. They crouched underneath the open window, the same one that Kurama had broken when he first arrived. The two siblings focused on the temple door as they felt someone about to activate it.

"What did you guys do? What's supposed to happen?" The little boy beside them whispered.

"Shh… just wait Steven." The shinobi grinned when he saw Amethyst walk out of the temple. _"Perfect."_

 _'Kai!'_

"What the-"

The seal glowed and the light emanating from it enveloped the short gem, doing its job by casting two genjutsu, one on the confused female and another on the area around her. She shrunk to around the same height as the house's centre table, dressed in a purple onesie with a bib around her neck and was holding a binky in her right hand. Amethyst could only watch as everything around her grew bigger.

"Uh-oh…" was all she could say about her current predicament. The gem tried to walk forwards in her "new form", but was only able to crawl. She headed for the warp pad to go to where Garnet and Pearl were for help but the unnoticed ninja wire in front of her tripped her up. The disturbance made the wire bend and squeeze not only the triggers of multiple water guns that sprayed her with glue but also the many bottles of ketchup and mustard. Once the sticky substances covered her, she panicked and tried to stand up once more only to stumble as she flailed her arms around trying regain her balance but ended up falling flat on her face causing another wire to spring its trap. This time feathers flew out of a knocked-over, huge, plastic tub and were blown towards her by a fan placed on a wooden beam, all of them sticking onto Amethyst. The three observers were having trouble breathing as they held their laughter in. Naruto managed to compose himself enough to use the chakra strings attached to his fingers, pulling a wooden crib that had a sign that read "Oops!" down from the roof. Once it was in the middle of the couch area and the kitchen, Naruto placed a hand on the porch floor, pushing chakra into the wood. A hand of wood picked Amethyst up and placed her into the crib while seals that were written on the crib beforehand activated and created an invisible force field that prevented Amethyst from leaving the crib.

"HEY! What's the big idea?! LET ME OUTTA HE-" She screamed before the binky was shoved into her mouth, courtesy of a chakra thread. The trio of males now found it very difficult to stop their guffaws from being heard by the enraged gem. The warp pad suddenly glowed as Pearl and Garnet returned from their mission.

"What happened here?!" Pearl's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when she saw that the floor was covered in food condiments, glue and feathers. "This place is a mes-"

Pearl cut herself off as badly stifled giggles started to emanate from both her and Garnet when their eyes landed on the binky-sucking, onesie-wearing, feather, mustard and ketchup-covered, baby Amethyst struggling to get out of her "prison". After a battle of wills that lasted 2.8 seconds, the two gems fell to the ground holding their stomachs in laughter. The moment they fell down, the males couldn't hold their amusement anymore either and tumbled down. Their roars of mirth were heard clearly inside the house but were currently ignored.

"*HAHA*- What- *GAHAHAH!* -happened to you?!" Pearl managed to say through her glee.

"Stop laughing and get me out of here!" Amethyst pouted, producing the opposite of what she wanted as the two usually calm females laughed even louder. Pearl took out a camera from her gem, snapped a photo of the memorable occasion before putting the camera away as she started to compose herself.

"Ah, that is a memory I will never forget." Garnet chuckled after calming down. "Now, who did this and what did you do to put yourself in this situation?"

"I don't know. I got hungry and went out of my room when all these traps suddenly hit me. I just wanted to get a snack when someone… pranked me." The purple skinned gem couldn't believe it, someone had pranked her. But who could it have been?! It sure wasn't Steven, he was too young to have been able to even think about something as complicated as this let alone pull it off. Greg was busy with the carwash and other than that mailman, none of the townsfolk even know about this part of the beach. Who could it have been? The three older Crystal Gems were forced out of their thoughts as their ears had finally taken notice of the loud laughter coming from the porch. Pearl and Garnet walked over to the open window and peered down to see the trio responsible. Steven was laying on his front, banging his hands on the wooden deck and Kurama was barely clinging on to the railing while his tails held a hanging Naruto by the foot, barely keeping him from falling down into the rocky sand beneath the house. All three were still howling in laughter.

"I think we found our culprits." Garnet sighed, staring at the older male and his fox sibling as the trio calmed down.

"Ahhh, now that… that was definitely a good way to alleviate boredom." Naruto chuckled, letting himself get pulled up by Kurama and Steven.

"Yeah, yeah. I know that this is funny and all... BUT COULD YOU GET ME OUT OF HERE ALREADY?!" Amethyst screamed in rage. Naruto smirked underneath his mask.

 _'Kai!'_

With one hand sign, a very large seal array appeared on the floor and glowed before the wire, fan, feathers, crib and other items as well as substances used in the prank disappeared along with the seal itself. All that was left was the baby Amethyst demanding to be returned to normal. Naruto's smirk turned into a full-blown grin and he snapped his fingers, dispelling the illusions placed on Amethyst.

Once she was "back-to-normal", the white-haired gem immediately whooped and jumped through the open window; disappearing to who knows where f or the rest of the day. The two remaining female gems turned to the injured off-worlder.

"Mind telling us how exactly you managed to pull all those things off?" Garnet asked calmly, raising an eyebrow when the blonde gestured for them to go closer as if he was about to tell them a very important secret. But instead he just gave an eye-smile as Kurama answered bluntly:

 **"Using the awesomeness of foxes."**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hahah, Yo! Crazy7634 here, with- another late chapter… man, I depress myself sometimes… ANYWAY~! Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited (I looked it up, this word actually exists XD) and reviewed this story. Plus, due to this chapter's late release and the fact that it's Halloween, I have added more to it. Here's the fourth chapter of A Second Chance. I hope it meets to you guys' standards and I apologize if it seems quite rushed. I have been typing this chapter at around midnight for multiple days now… Remember, please tell me if I have made a mistake or if there is a way for me to make this chapter as well as future chapters better. Well, what are you waiting for? READ THE CHAPTER ALREADY! XD**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything, especially Naruto and Steven Universe.**

* * *

Chapter 4 – More Than Meets The Eye

[Fourth Day of Naruto's Recovery Week]

Due to the "excitement" from two days ago, they had thought that the rest of the week would be comprised of nice calm ones. But they were wrong… that day was just a warning, there were many more hectic days to come. Pearl and Garnet had their arms crossed in front of their chests and Pearl's foot was tapping the ground repeatedly as they deadpanned at a certain black-haired boy and his two new friends, at the moment it seemed that the flip-flop wearing boy was the most mature out of the three sitting on the couch, considering who the children sitting with him were. Situated on the couch was none other than Steven, Naruto and Kurama. The young Universe at least had a bit of guilt on his face, but the others were a different story. They had wide eyes along with childish smiles, although Naruto's remained unseen under the cloth covering half his face. Both were trying to make themselves look as innocent as possible and only focused on two of the three adult Crystal Gems; completely ignoring the snarling, paint-covered Amethyst standing beside them along with the coloured liquid that was sliding down the walls and dripping down from the ceiling.

"So, let me get this straight… you're saying, that out of us six who are residing in this house, you three didn't have anything to do with Amethyst and the room's current state? Even though me and Garnet were in the temple and Amethyst saw that you three were coincidentally up on the rafters at the same time as paint balloons dropped on her head?" Pearl asked with a tired voice. Pearl had just arrived home with the other two females through the warp pad, she had left with Garnet to check on the newly-bubbled gem that they had acquired during their mission. The trio of males were on Steven's ledge playing video games and didn't have any sort of item near them that could have possibly given them a clue that this situation would happen. Yet, in the span of one hundred and thirteen seconds, they had managed to splash paint on both Amethyst's head and the whole interior of the house. If this is what happens when she and Garnet leave them alone for TWO MINUTES, then who knows what they would be able to plan if they left for another mission without at least leaving Greg as their babysitter!

Steven chuckled nervously in response while the blonde and the fox just kept their eyes wide while their "innocent" smiles started to turn into their mischievous grins. Pearl sighed as she uncrossed her arms and rubbed her temples to soothe the growing headache that she could feel was forming.

"What are we going to do with you…" She muttered, shaking her head. Amethyst's right eye twitched and vein started to bulge on her forehead.

"Oh, I know what I'm going to do to them… GET OVER HERE YOU-" She cried, trying to pounce on them and get her revenge, but was grabbed by the back of her collar by the blank-faced Garnet. The corners of the square-haired woman's mouth were twitching slightly upwards in amusement.

"Easy, Amethyst," She said. Her voice, while still mostly impassive, held a bit of mirth in it. Garnet turned to the figures sitting on the couch. "Now, you three, because you were the cause of this mess; you are going to have to clean it all up."

"Awww, what?! But Garneeet!" Steven whined, not wanting to clean the large amount of paint coating the inside of his home. A smirk appeared on Naruto's face and he discretely formed a hand sign behind his back. Hidden seals activated, sucking up all the paint without the others noticing.

"It's alright Steven. We don't have to clean anything. I mean, what mess are they even talking about? All I can see is a nice, clean home." The whiskered blonde smiled. Pearl blinked at what he said, before spreading her arms out and gesturing to the "mess" inside the house.

"What do you mean "we don't have to clean anything", look around you. This place is completely- SPOTLESS?!" The gem cut herself off when she had moved her eyesight away from Naruto and was shocked at the mess, or rather the lack thereof. "How- Wha- You… Where did the paint go? HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!"

Naruto eye-smiled, "I don't know what you're talking about… How did I do what?"

"ARRGH!" Pearl grabbed her hair as her right eye twitched when she looked at the blonde. He was so infuriating. She had been trying to get answers on as to what those strange symbols that he had used on Amethyst were, why they were glowing and what exactly they did. But he either dodged the question, came up with a snarky response or something connected to Kurama "coincidentally" happened and he had to leave immediately. It was really starting to get on her nerves. They barely knew anything about him. They didn't know his past, his abilities, what exactly he was and how he managed to do all these crazy things. Even his personality was odd. At one point he seems to be very cheerful, the next he's suddenly looking out of the window and up sky with melancholy. It didn't help that the irritating mask on his face was making it very hard for her to figure out what kind of person he really was, his eyes didn't even show any emotion other than blankness and at times cheerfulness. He was just so… confusing!

Naruto and Kurama laughed inside their shared mindscape. Messing with these people was so easy. The reactions they had to their teasing just encouraged the duo to torment them even more, Pearl was the most enjoyable to irk as her reactions were usually the most amusing. Since their prank on Amethyst two days ago, the duo had started to relax slightly. Unfortunately for the Crystal Gems, the Uzumaki and the fox bijuu's idea of relaxation meant pranking the heck out of those around them. Just yesterday, during Naruto's third day of recovery, Amethyst found herself catapulted into the ocean three times. Pearl had become paranoid after four "surprise attacks" comprised of air horns and whipped cream pies to the face and watched her back for the rest of the day in case the two off-worlders decided to "surprise" her again. Even Garnet had to look over her shoulder in case they were hiding in the shadows. She had made the mistake of getting them out of her peripheral vision for a few seconds and found herself having a clown costume over her usual outfit. When she blinked in surprise, they had somehow applied clown makeup onto her face. But as all this was going on, nothing was done to little Steven due to the fact that he had been their accomplice the entire time and had helped them greatly in accomplishing in their antics.

"Hey, are you alright Pearl? Your eye is twitching again, is something bothering you?" Naruto smirked. The peach-haired gem just crossed her arms, twisted her head towards her left with her chin up and eyes clenched shut as she let out a "hmph!", an action that was childish and oddly uncharacteristic of her. Naruto turned to Garnet and Amethyst. "Well, the room is spotless. Are we done here?"

"…Yes." Garnet replied, using the warp pad to leave while Pearl went to her favourite tree and Amethyst moved to the bathroom to wash the paint off of her. Steven looked towards the other two on the couch with him.

"So, what do you guys wanna do now?"

Naruto and Kurama shared a glance before pouncing on the child, wrestling with the little boy.

* * *

[Fifth Day of Naruto's Recovery Week]

[9:21 a.m.]

 **"** **No."**

"Pleeease?"

 **"** **No."**

"Aww, C'mon!"

 **"** **No."**

"But Kuramaaaa-"

 **"** **I SAID NO NARUTO!"** Kurama's patience finally breaking after being subjected to his pouting little brother's petulant whining for the past thirteen hours. It was around nine o'clock in the morning, the blonde had been pleading for Kurama to let him train ever since Steven had gone to sleep yesterday night. Although his resistance to his otouto's annoyingness had grown in the years he had been with him, even the nine-tailed fox had his limits. The bijuu was sitting in front of the couch, which the whiskered shinobi was currently sat upon. Kurama had an irritated look on his face. His eyes were shut, his head was tilted down and a visible tic mark was on his forehead while a few fangs showed through the frown on his muzzle. He looked up at the still pouting jinchūriki in front of him, he was about to speak when someone else beat him to it.

"What's going on here?" Pearl asked. She had been outside on the porch with Steven when Kurama's loud outburst caught their attention. "Is there a problem?"

 **"** ***sigh* Nothing that is of much importance. My stubborn little brother is just being a pain."** His annoyance of the situation could be heard clearly in his voice. Pearl raised an eyebrow at his response.

"How so?" She asked.

 **"** **He believes that although he is healed enough to walk without help, he is able to go train in the usual way he does when he is healthy."**

"Well, with how his recovery is going, he should be able to do anything that isn't too strenuous."

 **"** **If you let him do what he considers as "light" training when he is in perfect condition, it would end in him being as injured as he is now."** The fox sighed out.

"Oh. Well, he definitely isn't going anywhere alone anytime soon." She deadpanned.

"Aww… but ever since I woke up, I've always been inside the house. I want to get out!" the blonde complained, he crossed both his arms and his legs childishly as he pouted under his mask. Pearl and Kurama face palmed at the blonde while Steven's face lit up.

"Hey, how about I take you around Beach City? That way, you know where everything is if we aren't around and you won't be bored or doing anything stir- st- stern…" He said, struggling with the last word.

"Strenuous?" Pearl suggested, a gentle smile was on her face as she looked at the little boy.

"Yeah, that." Steven grinned up at the taller gem. Kurama raised an eyebrow at the idea. The child was right, if he allowed him to take Naruto out on a tour, then the masked Uzumaki would stop complaining and wouldn't be doing anything that would make his cut re-open. The red fox turned towards his little brother, and sweatdropped as he saw that the shinobi was giving him the puppy dog eyes. The shinobi and bijuu stared at each other for two minutes before the fox finally gave in with a sigh of resignation.

 **"** **Alright, alright. You can go. Now stop doing that, it's creeping me out."** Naruto whooped. He then stood up, grabbed Steven and held him like how a football player would hold a ball. He was sprinting towards the door when he heard the kitsune whistle just before he could exit the house. Naruto skidded on the ground as he forced himself to stop. He spun around to face his nii-san, only to have a black t-shirt that had the Uzumaki Clan symbol on the front thrown at his face.

 **"** **At least put that on before you leave. It seems that you have forgotten that you are not wearing anything over your bandages."** Kurama grunted. The young man just scratched the back of his head sheepishly and gave an eye-smile. Naruto placed Steven down, he pulled the shirt off of his head and put it on. Once he was wearing the shirt, he grabbed the curly-haired boy once more before making a bee-line towards Beach City, not noticing that he hadn't gone through the door. Kurama shook his head at his otouto while Pearl just smirked as they looked at the window that Naruto had jumped through in his haste.

"You think he'll cause trouble?"

 **"** **Well, if you're talking about Steven, no. But obviously you're asking about Naruto, and knowing that troublesome blonde… yep."**

* * *

[With Steven and Naruto]

[11:41 a.m.]

It had been around two hours since they had started their tour of Beach City. Steven had showed the ninja nearly every single place in the area, such as Funland Arcade, Beach Citywalk fries and the Big Donut. The curly-haired boy was currently dragging the blonde towards Fish Stew Pizza.

"C'mon Naruto! It's just right up ahead." He said eagerly.

As they made their way towards the shop, they saw that Jenny, Kiki's twin, and her friends were standing outside the shop with frowns on their faces as they looked through the glass wall. Steven let out a confused "huh?" while Naruto raised an eyebrow as they slowed their pace.

"Hello! You're Kiki's sister, right… uhh… Jenny?" Steven asked, the older male beside him keeping quiet.

"Hmm? Yeah, that's me. You need something kid?" The girl and the two boys with her stopped their staring and looked at the short boy.

"Why are you out here, wouldn't it be better if you were inside?" He asked, tilting his head to the side in curiosity.

"Well, we would be inside. But those guys in there kicked us out when we tried to make them get out. Their "leader" keeps asking Kiki out even though she keeps saying "no". We stepped in when they tried to use force but they pushed us out." Jenny replied.

"What they're doing isn't cool." Said the sunglass-wearing boy to her right.

"Yeah." The white-haired one agreed. "We wanna help, but there's five of them. They'll just beat us easily."

Steven's face had a confused expression, lacking the maturity and knowledge to understand what the five have been trying to do other than that they had tried to harm Kiki in some way. He peered into the shop through the glass wall, seeing the same five people that had been making Kiki uncomfortable when he and Kurama went to get pizza a few days ago.

"Hey, it's those guys again!" He said, eyes widening in recognition.

"You know them, kiddo?" Naruto finally spoke.

"Yeah, they were bothering Kiki a few days ago when me and Kurama went to get food. I was talking to the guy closest to Kiki and he looked like he was going to hit someone, but Kurama just stood behind them and growled. They ran off scared after a little bark, it was pretty funny…" the young Universe giggled. Naruto however, narrowed his eyes.

 _"Hey, big bro. By any chance, when you and Steven got pizza, did you guys encounter any… interesting people?"_

 _ **"** **Hm, just a few runts that walked as if they owned the place. Kinda reminded me of how the Uchiha kid was before Team 7 occurred, always looking down at people because he was not only the "Rookie of the Year" but was also "heir to the greatest clan in the Elemental Nations". One of the brats actually tried to HIT the kid. Heh, one growl and they ran away with their tails between their legs… why'd you ask?"**_

 _"Heheheh… Oh, nothing."_ Naruto grew an evil smirk under his mask. By how Kurama described them, they definitely wouldn't leave without a fight. This was going to be fun…

"How about we help them out, eh, little one?" He asked. Steven smiled and nodded.

The child opened the door and walked in with Naruto in tow. The five had their backs towards them. Steven immediately ran in front of them, acting as a barrier between the quintet and the Pizza waitress while Naruto walked calmly behind the group. The young Universe and the leader started to yell at each other, arguing back and forth as the shinobi chose to stand silently behind the oddly-dressed teens.

"…I said beat it kid!" the leader growled out, starting to raise his fist. Just when he was about to hit Steven, Naruto grabbed his wrist in a tight grip, making the angered teen's fist halt instantly.

"What the heck do you think you're-" the male had spun around, he was about to complain to the "perpetrator" about their intervention but paused when he saw that he was facing a chest instead of a face. He looked up, only to see the blonde shinobi's narrowed ice-cold eyes and the dangerous look they had in them. The posse saw Naruto holding their leader's wrist and flinched at the sight of the very tall Uzumaki. "Urm…"

"Who do you think you are, trying to hit a defenseless child?" Naruto stared coldly into the frozen teen's eyes, his calm yet deadly tone scaring the shorter boy even more. The boy stood still in fear for a few seconds before shaking his head clear of his dread, he felt Naruto start to let go of his wrist and wrenched it away from him once the his grip had loosened considerably.

"Tch, the kid was annoying me and wouldn't stop sticking his head into other peoples' business. I was just ordering some pizza and asking for directions when he started to yell about me making the pretty waitress here uncomfortable." He lied, glaring at Steven as he rubbed his wrist in pain.

"Is that so? Because I was with Steven here the whole time. You certainly didn't seem like you were here for the pizza." The jinchūriki droned out lazily, ruffling said child's hair who then hugged his leg. The interaction between the two made the teen flinch.

"W-well, it ain't none of your business anyway! Besides, what makes you think you can just grab me like that? My name's Takeshi, the son of one of the wealthiest businessmen in Japan! Even though I've only been taking lessons in fighting for a few months, some weakling like you won't last a second against me." He said arrogantly, puffing his chest up in pride with a smirk on his face.

' _Ugh, Kurama was right. It's just like Sasuke-nii before Team 7 all over again…'_ Naruto groaned in his mind. In the outside world, he merely gave the shorter boy a "really?" look. "Oh, you think you can prove that to me outside rich boy?"

Takeshi smirked at this, and strode out of the door confidently.

* * *

[Two Minutes Later]

Naruto stood across Takeshi on the boardwalk, his stance was relaxed and he had his hands in his pockets. Steven, Kiki, Jenny and the two boys called Buck and Sour Cream stood in a line as a barrier to his left while Takeshi's gang was lined up to his right.

"Let's go!" Takeshi smirked, dashing towards the Uzumaki.

Naruto moved head slightly backwards, dodging a spinning kick aimed to his head. He then pivoted to get away from a hit aimed the right side of his torso before jumping slightly over a low spinning sweep kick. Takeshi saw that Naruto was looking at him as if he was dealing with a mere child and grew enraged.

"DAMN IT! Take me seriously!" He growled in anger. The ninja continued to dodge Takeshi's attacks nonchalantly by ducking, pivoting and moving slightly to the side, his hands still in his pockets and a bored look on his face. After a few more minutes, he grabbed the teen's arm and flipped him into the ground. His casual dismissals annoyed Takeshi even more and from his position on the floor, the boy signalled his comrades to help. Seeing the "discrete" gesture that Takeshi had sent his friends, Naruto sighed as the four tried to sneak up on him. Keyword, tried. He snatched the arm of the boy who was aiming to punch his back and spun him into the other one who was aiming for his left side, their momentum sending them flying into the sand. The two girls had tried to trap him by attacking both his left and right, he rolled forwards to dodge the kicks that were headed for his skull and feet. He quickly spun back to face them, grabbing their arms and threw one of them on top of the two boys while the other was thrown at Takeshi who was trying to stand back up and the force of the throw made them fall into the sand beside the other three. Naruto walked to the edge of the boardwalk and looked down at the teens with his arms crossed.

"Ah, jeez… If that's all you got, then I'm sad that I actually thought that this would be mildly amusing. You five better not cause any trouble, or next time, I'll throw you into a more undesirable place instead of sand." He said, using his head to point at a dumpster nearby. The jinchūriki turned away from them and walked over to Steven and the four other spectators of the "fight".

"Well, that's that. Ready to go home kiddo?" He eye-smiled at the starry-eyed boy. Steven jumped onto Naruto, holding on to his waist with a big smile.

"That was so cool! Can you teach me how to do that? PLEASE!"

Naruto chuckled at him, ruffling the boy's hair. "Maybe, squirt. Now let's head back."

He put the pink-shirt wearing youth in a piggy-back and darted towards the temple, Steven whooping in happiness the whole time. Five minutes later they were on the side of the beach where the house was situated at. Naruto was about to leap up to the porch when his danger senses went off and he managed to jump back in time to dodge the large horn of a giant, dark-green, narwhal-like creature.

"Whoa!" Steven said in amazement, staring at the massive gem monster.

"The heck… What is this thing?!"

"It must be one of those crystal monsters that Pearl and the others always fight!" The young half-gem cried out, seeing the hexagonal object imbedded into the stomach of the ocean-dweller.

"A what?!" The blonde looked at Steven incredulously.

"A gem monster. It's why the Crystal Gems always leave the house, they go to deal with stuff like this every day so that no humans get hurt by them."

He raised his eyebrows at the new information before narrowing his eyes when he saw that the narwhal had swum back into the sea and was making a U-turn. It was quickly swimming its way back towards them, intending to pierce through both of the gems on the beach using its horn. He placed the child hanging around his neck by the bottom of the house's staircase and slowly lowered into a stance.

"Steven, stay behind me." Naruto ordered before rushing at the humongous horned whale. When he was about to be impaled he quickly sidestepped to the left and snagged the beast's long tusk, using its speed to help him spin the gargantuan gem around three times before throwing it up in the air; spinning as it flew high up in the sky. The shinobi bent his knees, his eyes focused on his target. Sending chakra to his legs, he pushed off of the sand, appearing above the monster and performed a drop kick. The force of his attack was so great that the two figures fell back down onto the beach in a blur, causing a tremor as their landing kicked up large quantities of sand particles. Naruto stood on top of his defeated opponent before it disappeared in a puff of smoke. A small, lime-coloured gem now in its place below his feet. He picked it up and examined it curiously, not hearing the loud bang of a door being slammed open. Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst and Kurama raced out of the house when they felt the earth quake, jumping down from the porch when Steven's figure entered their peripheral vision.

"Steven! Are you alright, are you hurt, what's going on?!" Pearl asked the boy hurriedly, panic evident in her voice. Steven could only manage a point in the direction of the immense imprint of the narwhal meters in front of him as he was still shell-shocked at what he had witnessed Naruto do. The four new arrivals' eyes widened when they saw the odd-shaped hole.

 _'_ _How did we miss that…'_ Pearl deadpanned mentally as she ran towards the anomaly with the others in tow and was surprised to see Naruto standing in the middle, inspecting something in his hand with interest. "Naruto!"

Said male paused his analysing and made eye contact with the gem who had called out to him. "Yo! Uh, one question. Are giant animals after your blood a normal occurrence around here?"

Pearl could only blink in confusion at the strange question before a glint hit her eye and she saw the jewel he held in his hand.

 _'_ _A GEM?!'_ She thought in surprise.

"Well that's a weird question to ask." Amethyst said blankly.

"Considering that an overgrown fish just tried to impale me and Steven, you can't really blame me for asking that question…" He replied, tossing the gem to Garnet who promptly nabbed it from the air.

"Yes. I suppose it is quite common. Though not in this area here specifically, all around the world they appear very often." Garnet answered. At this point, Steven had gotten out of his shock and pounced on Naruto's back once the older male had stood up after climbing out of the crater.

"THAT WAS AWESOME! You HAVE to teach me how to fight now! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU COULD DO THAT?!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"What are you rambling on about Steven, what happened here?" Amethyst asked.

"It was so cool! The thing was BIG. But he threw it into the air, jumped after it and kicked it down so hard that the ground shook! PLEASE TEACH ME!" Steven said, yelling the last sentence in Naruto's direction. The shinobi himself just scratched his head sheepishly as Kurama shook his head tiredly. Of course… he should've known that Naruto was the one who caused all that quaking. While the fox chuckled slightly, the gems looked at the size of the crater before turning to the blonde in disbelief.

"Ah… It was nothing, really. It was trying to hurt you, so I got rid of it. I really wanted to finish it off faster, but I can't really do much yet with my injuries and all…" He chuckled embarrassedly, his response making the Crystal Gems even more stunned. He was a human, yet he THREW a being of THIS size and managed to cause a mini-earthquake by _kicking_ it. But all he had to say about what had happened was "It was nothing"?!

Naruto tilted his head upwards, his nose twitching slightly as he sniffed the air when he smelt a familiar scent. His eyes widened in realization.

"I- *sniff* Is that… COOKIES?!" He sniffed the air some more to track the smell down. After a few moments, his head snapped to Pearl and he saw that she was wearing mittens. The scent of cookies was emanating from the large gloves and Pearl had come out of the house when the earth vibrated… which meant…

He immediately hoisted Steven in a fireman's carry and made his way towards the house, jumping up to the porch all the while laughing in childish glee. Kurama shook his head again, a small grin on his face as he followed his otouto's lead. He hurdled over the staircase, intending to get some of the delicious treats before his brother ate all of the food. The gems shared a glance and leaped towards the house after them, two hoping to get some answers while the last only went for the cookies.

* * *

[Fifth Day of Naruto's Recovery Week]

[Inside Steven's House]

The Crystal Gems had asked many questions but were unsuccessful in figuring out how exactly the blonde did what he did the previous day, as the duo had avoided the questions as usual. It was around 3:21 p.m. The three were currently out on a mission and the brothers were dozing lazily on the beams that supported the house's roof, their snores echoed in the empty home. Meanwhile, Steven was dragging a certain long-haired man up the stairs and into the house.

"Hey, c'mon Dad! You've gotta meet them, they're amazing!" He said eagerly, clutching onto the man's big hand as he pushed the door open and pulled his father in.

"Heheh, alright Steven. But are you sure they're safe to be around… The Gems did say that they were fine, right?" Greg asked his son as he stepped inside house nervously.

"Yeah, they're fine. They even came with me when I went into town a few times to make sure that I'd be safe! Now where are they…" The father-son duo scanned the area for any sign of the off-worlders and jolted when two oddly identical snores rang throughout the home. They looked up and saw the two were sleeping on the wooden pillars. Greg let out a surprised "Gah!" while Steven just giggled at the sight. Snatching two cushions from the couch, the little boy threw one at Naruto who was laying on his back and the other at Kurama who was snoozing on his stomach. The ninja caught it subconsciously and sat up straight the moment the small pillow touched his hand and Kurama deflected his opposing object using a tail.

"Oh, hey squirt. What's with waking us up, ya need something?" He yawned out, rubbing his eye with his unoccupied hand as he and Kurama tossed the fluffy things back into their positions on the couch.

"Sorry, I just wanted you guys to meet my Dad!" the child beamed up at them.

"Your… Dad?" Now that caught their interest, as they finally saw the large figure that Steven was standing beside. The fox and the jinchūriki slid off of their positions and landed silently on the ground. They examined the chubby, brown-haired man who was wearing a white singlet, a pair of blue shorts and flip-flops.

"Hey there, my name is Greg. Greg Universe." The now-named Greg smiled, holding out his hand for Naruto to shake. The Uzumaki gave an eye-smile back and shook the other male's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"My name is Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki. This here, is Kurama." He replied, gesturing to the blood-red fox beside him. "It's nice to meet you too."

 **"Yes, it is a pleasure to meet the young one's father."**

Greg flinched, "He can talk?!"

"Uh… Heh, yeah. Sorry about that, we're quite used to Steven and the others knowing about his ability to speak. I guess we occasionally forget that talking animals isn't exactly a common thing…" Naruto said, chuckling slightly.

 **"That piece of information does slip from our minds very often…"**

The elder Universe sighed, "Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. After all, the Gems aren't exactly normal either."

"Yeah. They always say that they come from space and that they aren't human." Steven added happily, staring up at Naruto.

"Really? Hm, Kurama did say something about them summoning weapons from thin air when he first saw them and you mentioned that they always disappeared to help humanity from giant monsters... They never actually told us much about that, but we definitely knew that they weren't human. After all, what human could make weapons appear from nothing?" the Uzumaki said, raising an eyebrow.

 _"Aww, dang it!"_ Greg flinched once more. The thought of the three women going after him and his son because they had inadvertently revealed information that they did not want to release, filled him with fear. He could only hope that they wouldn't be angry.

 ** _"_** _ **YOU can, Naruto."**_

 _"Heh, come on Kurama. You know I'm not human anymore nor can I be even called one. We don't know what exactly I am now…"_ He thought sadly.

 _ **"Grr, don't start talking like that again Naruto…"**_

Naruto shook his head. Wanting to get to know Greg better instead of getting lectured by his older brother.

"So, Greg. Why does Steven stay here with Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst. Shouldn't he be living with you?" He inquired, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Oh, uhmm… Other than the fact that the gems can teach Steven more than I can, I don't actually have a house. I own a car wash but I sleep in my van." The half-bald man laughed embarrassedly.

"Eh, better than us at least. We don't have a house either, but we don't even have a job." Naruto guffawed, slapping Greg's back. The other man smiled, laughing along with Naruto as he was starting to get more comfortable around his son's two new friends. Steven was smiling at the sight of the mysterious two bonding with his Dad. They had chatted for hours, sharing stories of Steven's mother and the pranks that were pulled in the last few days. The time was now 12:53 a.m. Greg had gone home five hours ago, Steven was out like a light in his bed and Kurama laid on the couch beside a wide-awake Naruto.

 **"You have to at least try to get some rest."**

"*sigh* We've been over this many times for the past five years we've been in this world Kurama… No matter how many times I try, I'll never get any rest. Their pained faces always appear whenever I attempt to sleep."

 **"Why do-"** The temple door opened and Pearl walked out, wanting to watch the moon set, not having anything else to do.

She was taken aback when she saw that Naruto was once again awake at a late hour, albeit a few hours earlier than the last time she caught him not sleeping, but still. _'This is the second time I've seen him at this hour. Hmm…'_

"You're still awake?" She sighed at him.

"Heheh, I guess I still can't sleep that easily…" He replied sheepishly, giving her the most convincing eye-smile he could manage at that moment. Though, she didn't seem all that convinced. As much as Pearl may not have wanted to admit it, she had enjoyed having Naruto and Kurama around and honestly, the young man's habit of staying up late was starting to worry her.

"This really isn't doing you any favours for your health." Pearl had her hands at her hips, giving him a suspicious look.

"Hey, no need to worry. I'm going to go back to sleep after a few minutes. Just like last time." His eye-smile faltering slightly in his fatigue. Pearl sighed out an "alright" before returning to her room. Ten minutes later, the pale gem returned to the outside of the temple to check up on Naruto, only to find that Kurama was sleeping on the couch and that the blonde himself was nowhere to be seen. She even checked the support beams above her head.

 _'Hmph, "I'll go back to sleep in a few minutes" he says…'_ Pearl stood there, scanning the room one last time for any sign of Naruto before returning to her room, shaking her head as she sighed. Not noticing the piercing red eyes that slid open and watched her as she returned to her room.

 **"Hmm…"** Kurama hummed in thought.

* * *

[Sixth Day of Naruto's Recovery Week]

[It's-A-Wash Car Wash, 10:21 a.m.]

Loud, fluid strums of a guitar could be heard coming out of the van located outside the car wash it was parked in front of. Naruto let the last strum ring out as Greg and Steven clapped. The three were sitting cross-legged inside Greg's van, guitars in hand as Kurama slept on the van's roof. Naruto grinned under his mask as the other two whooped at his accomplishment. At this point in time, the three would usually be in the house playing a prank war against Amethyst, but Steven's questioning of whether the brothers would stay with them forever had caused an air of awkwardness in the house earlier in the morning. The three, deciding to leave the house as the silence and wariness had made them feel uneasy, went to visit Greg and had been learning how to play musical instruments for the past few hours.

"Wow, the first lesson and you've already learnt so much." Greg said with an impressed tone.

"Yeah, how come it's so easy for you?" Steven smiled, tilting his head to the side. Naruto scratched his covered cheek in an embarrassed way.

"Well, to simply put, I am a kinesthetic learner." He answered.

Steven let out a confused "huh?", his reaction making the two adults chuckle.

"Let me explain. Back when I was a kid like you Steven, I was never all that good at the listen-and-take-notes stuff that my school had us students do. I always did worse when I had to memorize the history of things and recite how they worked compared to when I had to learn something by doing it myself. Unfortunately, because of that, I was at the bottom of every class I was in. The academy I went to did a _lot_ more bookwork than physical work. Not a good place to learn in for a kinesthetic learner. A kinesthetic learner is someone who learns better from doing and moving rather than sitting still and reading information off of boards or books. Though the teachers aiming to give me the worst education anyone ever got certainly didn't help…" He explained, mumbling the last sentence lowly as he remembered the biased senseis, not knowing that Greg had caught what he had said. After all these years it still confused Naruto and Kurama that Konoha's shinobi academy, the school that was meant to teach village's future defenders, taught their students less physical exercises than the civilian schools.

 _'The teachers sabotaged his learning? Why would they do that?!'_ Greg thought curiously. After mulling on whether he should ask about it or not, he chose to put the information into the back of his head for now and think about it later. He did have a music lesson to teach after all. "You've improved a lot Naruto. Now how about you try this…"

* * *

[8:36 p.m.]

"Honestly Garnet, what are we supposed to do about those two? They haven't done anything wrong, and they never had any ill-intent the whole time they were here, if their care about Steven's safety is anything to go by. But as much as I would like to agree that they would be able to stay should they want to, all those things that they have been able to do- from the symbols they had used in their first prank to the super strength that Naruto seems to have definitely causes suspicion…" Pearl said to the taller Gem. Ever since the males had left for Greg's the females had been discussing about the off-worlders staying with them. Pearl knew that if she was to be honest, she had grown to like the two siblings and would be completely happy with them joining their little group. They had always looked after Steven whenever she and the others went on missions, their constant pranks gave their days more laughter and their goofiness made them smile instantly no matter what mood they were in. But it was up to Garnet to have the final say. The gem in question "hmm…"-ed as she thought about her decision. She remained quiet and after three tense, silent minutes, she spoke.

"Although their usage of unusual abilities are quite suspicious, you said it yourself Pearl, they've never done anything wrong during their stay with us and neither of them have shown any ill will towards anyone. As for their powers, considering what we have seen them do, they may be able to help us out on missions and might make things easier in some cases. I say we agree to them being able to live here, if they want to." Garnet replied. She had to admit that having them around was quite enjoyable.

"Aww, yeah! This is going to be awesome. I can't wait to tell Steven about this!" Amethyst spoke up, a grin on her face. While she had been their most common target to prank, even she laughed at the things that had happened to her and the others in the past few days.

The door slammed open, the gems turned only to see that Naruto and Steven had swirls in their eyes as they were lying down on the floor in a heap with Kurama sitting on top of them triumphantly. Giving the two below him a smirk, the fox bellowed.

 **"That's it mortals, fear me! Fear the all-mighty and great, nine-tailed fox GOD!"** He yelled, cackling maniacally. His announcement immediately caused him to be shrugged off and tackled to the ground. The gems sighed and sweatdropped at the sight. They slowly walked over towards the trio to tell them of their decision.

"Alright you three, that's enough." Pearl said with an amused smile on her face. "We have something to say to you guys."

The three stopped their wrestling, curious looks were sent towards the three female gems. **"What is it?"**

"We have thought about Steven's proposal from earlier and have given you permission to go through with it." Garnet smirked.

"Wait, does that mean…?" Steven shakily stood up after he managed to pry himself from underneath the off-worlders.

"Yes Steven, should they desire to, both Naruto and Kurama may live with us here in the house." Pearl clarified, giggling slightly when Steven's face lit up and he started hopping on top of the two siblings.

"YEAAAH-HAH-HA! C'mon Naruto, Kurama, jump with me. You guys can stay here with us now! Hahah! You guys are going to stay… aren't you?" He asked, stopping his movements. The boy looked below him activating his puppy dog eyes as he stared at the two who he had begun to think of as his older brothers. The two in question chuckled at the sight as they had a conversation within their minds.

 _"_ _Well, what do you say Kurama? Should we stay?"_

 _ **"Hn, I don't really care… But if we were to not leave Beach City, there is the fact that we have to do extra precautions to make sure that Uragirimono doesn't harm Steven and the others."**_

 _"Yes, *sigh* I had forgotten about Rīfu… I was genuinely enjoying our stay here."_

 _ **"It is up to you whether we should leave or not. Don't make Rīfu's existence affect your choice too much. Remember, while he does have that poison we can easily mislead his men. Besides, even if you do stay here and they do find this place you can just use your body as a meat-shield for the others. After all, since you have already been hit with the poison, your body has adapted to it and beating it back will go much easier the next time."**_

 _"Meat-shield, really Kurama? *sigh* Well, since you don't really care either way, I guess we're staying. Wouldn't want to make little Steven sad, now would we?"_ Naruto laughed before leaving the mindscape.

 _ **"Hmph, you may not have noticed, but I sure have. Ever since we got here, you've been happier than you have ever been these past three years. I can only hope that they will help fully remove your mask and the walls you have brought up to protect yourself…"**_ The bijuu thought to himself as he returned to the real world as well.

"Weeeell?" Steven widened his eyes even more.

"Heh, how could we say no to a face like that kiddo?" Naruto smirked at the boy whose face lit up in excitement as he pounced onto the older male's back. The child's repeated orders to "mush!" causing him to chuckle.

* * *

[Final Day of Naruto's Recovery Week]

"Gahahah!" A bare-chested Naruto laughed as he jumped away from a large, jagged, crab claw. He ran underneath the shelled beast, past the crustacean's thin legs and round-house kicked it from behind. The strength of his attack showed through the large crab face-planting into the sand, creating a large indentation. The female gems watched amazedly from the house's porch while Kurama just looked on with a bored expression. The Uzumaki hopped onto the mutated gem's shielded back and was about to punch through its armour when he noticed that Steven was standing a few meters away from the beast's mouth.

"STEVEN, MOVE!" He shouted, but the child was paralyzed as the beast opened its mouth and breathed out spikes of ice. In a blur of speed, the shinobi rocketed towards the young Universe. He felt an ice shard graze the side of his chest as he was barely able to grab Steven and move him to the bottom of the house's staircase. He spun around to face his opponent once more. Disappearing into thin air, the blonde re-appeared above the monster, his fist coated with an invisible sheet of wind chakra. His fist drilled into its shell, causing the fiend to retreat back into its gem in a puff of smoke. Naruto caught the jewel before he shunshined to Steven, grabbing the little child and used shunshin again to teleport beside Kurama.

"Kid, what the heck were you thinking going down there? Do you know how dangerous that stunt you pulled was?!" The mask-wearing jinchūriki roared. After a minute of silence he finally noticed the surprised looks that everyone else had on their faces. "What is it?"

 **"Kit, your chest…"** Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked down to check on his bare torso. It took a flash of light that reflected from the orb to hit his eye for him to realize what the problem was. There was nothing covering his chest.

 _'My bandages! How did this happe- Wait…'_ Naruto's thoughts halted.

* * *

[Mini-Flashback]

 _In a blur of speed, the shinobi rocketed towards the young Universe. He felt an ice shard graze the side of his chest as he was barely able to grab Steven and move him to the bottom of the house's staircase._

[Mini-Flashback End]

* * *

 _An ice shard graze the side of his chest…_

 _'Damn it, no wonder I felt it move. It sliced the bandages off! That means…'_ He flinched when he heard Steven speak.

"Y-You're… A GEM?!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Yo! Crazy7634 here, making an update at 4:45 a.m. and less than 0 minutes of sleep! *sigh* I really need to take sleeping more seriously… ANYWAY! As usual sorry for the late update, but this time, it's not because of homework. Unfortunately I am currently in the middle of school exams, so if you read these Author's Notes then you already know the drill. Late chapter = Extra words. Thank you to those who have followed, favourited and reviewed this story. If I have made any mistakes or if you have an idea that would make this chapter/story better, then feel free to tell me. Now, without further ado, I introduce… The fourth chapter- no wait FIFTH. FIFTH CHAPTER of A Second Chance! Heheh... Yeaaaah, I really do need to sleep...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything, especially Naruto and Steven Universe.**

* * *

Chapter 5 – Not Alone

[One Year Later]

[Crystal Gem Temple]

Greg scoured the house for his two targets, his irritated frown contrasting the large smile created by the clown make-up applied to his face. He was currently dressed in a bright-orange clown suit with red polka dots while his son was wearing a smaller, lime-green version of his outfit. The oversized shoes he wore made loud noises as they collided with the wooden floor every time he took a step, the sounds along with Steven's giggling made him miss the laughter emanating from underneath the sofa. Naruto snickered with Kurama as they hid under the couch. The bijuu had shrunk himself into the size of a fox kit while the Uzumaki transformed himself into a masked, bright-yellow, blue-eyed version of his brother's current form. They paused their cackles of mischievousness when a blue light lit up the underside of the couch and they heard the large man speak to someone along with a female's sigh. The brothers froze when they saw a pair of feet go closer to their location and winced when blinding light hit their eyes as the couch cushions were pulled off. Naruto and Kurama put on their "innocent baby animal" faces as Pearl lifted them up by the skin at the back of their necks. The masked fox gave her an eye-smile while the other kit's crimson eyes widened even more when the female gem's deadpan reached their peripheral vision.

"Well, I think I've found your two troublemakers Greg." She chuckled, placing the two back down to the ground. Kurama changed back to his usual size and Naruto transformed back to his human form. He had fresh bandages around his chest and was wearing dark-brown cargo pants, a black belt that had a golden buckle, steel-toed combat boots along with his dog tags.

"You know, sometimes I really wish you guys hadn't taught him how to use his gem powers…" The elder Universe grumbled, removing the red afro that sat upon his head.

"To be honest, even I sometimes regret teaching him." Pearl replied, turning to the much taller gem. "And please, put a shirt on Naruto."

The blonde blinked at her in confusion before looking down and saw that he was wearing nothing over his changed wrappings. He scratched his cheek sheepishly, tapped one of the many storage seals hidden within his arm tattoo and, in a puff of smoke, was wearing a dark-blue t-shirt. Pearl shook her head at the man's constant forgetfulness of wearing shirts.

"You've spent a year with us and yet I still don't understand why you insist on covering your torso in bandages. We already know that you're a gem, and unless you forget to wear something over your top-half then no one in Beach City will even realize that you are just like us." She told him with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, it's not the orb. Let's just say that its location is the problem…" Naruto said, happy that they were too focused on the crystal orb itself the day they had found out about him being a gem.

* * *

[Flashback]

"Y-You're… A GEM?!"

 _'DAMN IT!'_ He cursed, placing a quick genjutsu to cover his chidori scar. ' _How could I have been so careless?'_

The shinobi was about to rant some more in his mind before his mind processed what Steven had said. "Wait… "Gem"? Is that what I am, a gem? I thought that "The Crystal Gems" was just your group's name!"

Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst were taken aback by his question, he didn't even know what a gem was despite being one himself? Still, how was this possible?! They were definitely sure that they have never seen any sort of gem that either looked like Naruto or had a gem similar to the one he had. It was the first time they had seen such a strange orb, it was a very odd sight for the three. The sphere was made out of two different types of crystal and yet they didn't look as if they were forced to stick together. In fact, there was a clean, straight line down the middle that showed that the two halves were of equal size regardless of the difference in gem types and seemed to have merged as naturally as the fusion of two gems. But even when they fuse their crystals never turned into… this. So many questions were flying in the gems' heads.

"H-How… Y-You…" Amethyst stuttered out.

"Why didn't you say that you were like us?" Pearl asked, still quite stunned about their revelation. Naruto scratched the back of his head in unease.

"Well, I didn't think that it was all that important…" He chuckled nervously.

Garnet shook her head clear of her surprise and looked Naruto in the eye, "You, have a lot of explaining to do."

* * *

[A Few Minutes Later]

The three gems stood in front of Naruto, who was slouched on the couch with his head down while Steven and Kurama observed them from above.

"Now, who or what are you exactly and where did you come from?" Garnet interrogated, she had her arms crossed over her chest, and her seriousness could be easily distinguished in her voice as Pearl and Amethyst stayed silent. Naruto sighed. He knew that he would have to tell them at some point in time, but he did not expect the time to be so soon.

"I am who I said I was back when I first awoke in this place. My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I come from a war-driven land very far away from here. As for what I am, it seems that I am a gem. Like you." The blonde answered, trying to keep his replies as vague as possible.

"If you really are a gem, then why did you bleed instead of releasing your physical form to recuperate?"

"That is hard question to answer. I have do not have much knowledge of what powers a gem holds, I didn't even know that I was called a gem in the first place. But although I can't really tell you guys much, I guess I can say that I didn't start off as a gem."

"How did you get to Earth and how long have you been on this planet?"

"We've been here for around about six years now and as for our method of getting here, we aren't all that sure ourselves. One day we just… woke up in some unfamiliar forest located somewhere here on Earth. The only thing we knew about this place back then was that we were sent here to restart our lives with a clean slate. Nothing more, nothing less."

"What of your lives before your arrival here?"

"If we did live lives here on this planet before waking up in that forest, then that fact is unknown to us as we cannot seem to recall any memories of a life that we have lived here on Earth before that day six years ago."

Questions and answers fired back and forth as Garnet continued to interrogate the off-worlder for nearly two hours. Once the square-haired woman was done, she beckoned for the two gems beside her to follow as she entered the temple. Once the three had left Naruto sighed in relief, it was quite hard to come up with half-truths on-the-spot while also making sure that the information revealed did not show too much. The gems took nearly half an hour in the temple before returning to the living room.

"You know, you're just full of surprises… Well, since you said that you only know a little about gems, we'll help you out on that and teach you along with Steven. Though, you better help us out when we're on missions." Pearl smirked amusedly at the masked shinobi as Naruto gave an eye-smile back.

[Flashback End]

* * *

Naruto chuckled at the memory before turning to Pearl, asking, "So, what's up. You guys need my help or something?"

"Yes, actually. That is the reason why I came here to get you in the first place." She said, gesturing for Naruto to follow her through the warp pad. The blonde was always skeptical of the thing, mostly because his first encounter with the strange contraption's ability to teleport the user(s) to a faraway area ended up in the Crystal Gems having to pry him off the top of a very tall palm tree. Even when they had succeeded in doing so, it took much persuasion and reassurance to get the shinobi to use the warp pad again. The Uzumaki was brought out of his thoughts when the pale gem beside him began to debrief him about the situation.

"Okay, here's the problem. The snake gem that we're supposed to be dealing with is surprisingly quick despite its abnormal size. It keeps on heading towards a nearby city all the while shooting its acid-like poison everywhere. If it reaches the human settlement, it will cause an unimaginable amount of damage as well as many deaths. As much as we want to get it as far away from civilization as possible, it's too quick for us to grab a hold of." She said as the pearl in her forehead projected a holographic demonstration of the enormous snake's evitable disintegration of the city. "You have both the speed and the strength needed to take care of this situation. So, you know what to do?"

 _'Giant snakes, eh? After that narwhal, I was wondering when I'd come across these again… Well, at least she didn't mention that the snake was being controlled by some pale, pedophilic, man-snake thing.'_ He mumbled in his head. He heard Kurama snicker within the recesses of his mind, no doubt the old fox had heard his previous thought. Naruto nodded at Pearl in affirmation, his attention was quickly turned to the change in scenery as the warp pad deactivated and he found himself looking at a densely forested, mountainous area.

"Alright. So, where is the-" His question was cut off as a brown blur broke through the thick trees to his right as it made a beeline for his left, creating a line of destruction in its wake before it was forced to stop when Garnet and Amethyst landed in front of its path. "Huh. Nevermind then!"

Naruto's eyes panned to the direction the snake was heading for, and saw the vague outline of multiple buildings. ' _That must be the city.'_

He turned his focus back to the fight at hand and rushed at the massive reptile. The masked Uzumaki quickly grabbed it by the tail and threw it as far as he could from the defenseless humans. Naruto and the others sprinted hurriedly to the area where the serpent landed, they entered a clearing and saw that the snake was inside a crater. It was shaking its head slightly, trying to reorient itself. The gem monster was about to slither back to the direction of the city, but was forced to glide in the opposite direction, narrowly dodging being poofed as Garnet punched where it had previously stood. The monster tried to escape the four, but a spear landing in front of it stopped the reptile in its tracks and something wrapping against its middle prevented it from moving away. The serpent's eyes caught the sight of the Pearl, Amethyst and Naruto and it attempted to strike them using its tail. Luckily the females managed to jump back in time as Naruto leaped high into the sky, successfully avoiding the swift attack. But Amethyst and Pearl's vision were quickly obscured by the amount of dust the appendage had kicked up when it collided with the ground. Naruto saw the serpent about to cover the currently vulnerable gems in its acid from his aerial perspective, he glanced at Garnet and saw that she was too far away to do anything to help. Sending chakra to his feet, he propelled himself to Pearl and Amethyst, pushing off of the air similar to how he would on water. The shinobi quickly grabbed the two gems before jumping away once more, a blob of powerful poison disintegrating the earth behind them.

"You guys alright?" Naruto asked.

He suddenly flinched as his sixth sense for danger kicked up and he pushed the two far away from him. He spun around and looked up as the snake started to overshadow him, only to see that the large creature had its mouth wide open and was about to swallow him whole.

"Not again…" He sighed. He heard three cries of "NARUTO!" as darkness completely covered his eyesight.

* * *

[Inside The Snake]

Naruto shivered when he felt the serpent swallow him, he slid down the massive animal's gullet and used chakra to help himself stand up properly in the snake's squirming stomach. He walked around, he pinched his sensitive nose to protect himself from the pungent smell of decay as his feet made squishing noises at every step he took. The ninja's eyes darted around, inspecting the trees as well as the bones of the animals the snake had eaten. "Greaaat… as if the first time was an enjoyable experience."

"WOAH!" Naruto held his arms out to help keep his balance when he felt the inside of the beast twist as it writhed. His eyes twitched in annoyance and he formed a familiar cross-shaped hand sign. "Okay, that's it. I don't care if it's a jutsu shown to the others, I'm sick of this place!"

* * *

[Outside The Snake]

"NARUTO!" Pearl was panicking as she and Garnet tried to break through the beast's scales while Amethyst held it still using two whips. But the gem monster's skin was too tough, their weapons barely making a scratch on its thick hide. The thought of fusion began to enter the three gems' minds, when the creature suddenly started to expand.

"What the-?!" Amethyst yelled before she had to make her whips disappear and flip backwards, away from the rapidly inflating monster. The thing kept swelling until it looked like a gargantuan balloon with a tiny head attached to one end before it burst and poofed back into a light brown gem, the clearing now filled with hundreds upon hundreds of Naruto clones who were complaining loudly as they shook snake juice off of their bodies. The Crystal Gems all had different reactions to this unbelievable display. Amethyst narrowed her eyes as she started to count every single clone, Pearl's jaw had dropped to the ground in shock and Garnet flinched, her face showing surprise while her eyes twitched underneath her sunglasses at the madness. The original Naruto noticed this and sighed as he dispelled all of the clones.

"Let's go back to the house. I need to get all this stomach slime off of me before it dries." He grumbled, dashing towards the warp intending to take a shower as soon as he got to the house. The gems shared a glance before bubbling the gem and following the Uzumaki through the forest and into the warp. Silence enveloped the inside of the warp stream, no one really knowing what to say until Amethyst broke the silence.

"So… Mind telling us why were there hundreds of you back there? We'd _really_ like to know." She deadpanned.

Naruto sighed again before responding, "It's just one of my abilities, kinda like how I have super strength and am able to jump really high. How I'm able to do these things has something to do with why those humans are after me. Those things were called Shadow Clones, they are fake manifestations of me. When I create one, they take some of my power with them and can use the same attacks as me. Although they don't last forever and can be easily dispatched, when they dispel, they give me the information they had gained before they got destroyed. All in all, Shadow Clones are pretty useful in both information gathering and combat… as well as getting out of unnaturally sized creatures."

The light that the beam emitted dissipated and Naruto stepped out of the warp pad. He trudged towards the bathroom, turning towards Kurama as he passed him.

"Add a second tally to the "Eaten By Snakes" chart along with a third tally for "Times In An Animals Mouth" one." He mumbled, slamming the bathroom door behind him, the kitsune's guffaws making him grumble even more.

* * *

[4:41 a.m.]

It was very early in the morning, the moon was still high up in the sky and the only sign of life was a figure sitting atop the lighthouse. The man breathed in the seaside wind, a small poof echoed in the empty air as two old photos appeared in his hands from a cloud of smoke. One showed four people posing in a forest area. Three of them were children wearing what seemed to be forehead protectors that had an odd spiral-like design etched into the metal, they were stood in front of a masked, silver-haired man who was also wearing a forehead protector. The other picture depicted twelve children, all of them either had a grin or a smirk on their face except for a sunglass-wearing boy. Smiling behind them were four adults. Three of them were males who wore odd, dark-green, armoured vests while the last adult was a female wearing a dress that looked as if it was made out of bandages. All sixteen included in the image wore identical bands with the same leaf-like motif engraved into the metal. A sad look was in his eyes as he gazed at the worn items, reminiscing once more about his past.

"So, this is where you always go off to. No wonder I couldn't find you inside the house whenever I went to check up on you." A soft voice spoke as she stood behind the figure sitting under the moonlight. Naruto flinched and cursed himself for letting his guard down, swiftly sealing the photos back into one of the seals in his tattooed arm. His head quickly snapped towards who had spoken, shock evident in both his movements and his eyes. Pearl paused mid-step as she saw the emotions swimming in the blue orbs and was surprised at what she had seen. It took a few seconds for the surprise in his eyes to disappear, but once it was gone, she saw a flash of a mixture of hidden emotions that she had never seen in the usually cheerful man's cerulean irises. Large quantities of anguish, fear, misery… and guilt. The pale gem was shaken at her discovery and was relieved when she managed to detect the small amount of hope as well as an abundance of childish curiosity and innocence that appeared for a few seconds before they were blanketed by the negative emotions and were concealed by the usual sheet of blankness that covered the gem's eyes. Pearl was frozen, her mind still processing what she had seen.

 _'What- What was that?!'_ She thought, not quite believing what she had seen in the usually joyful man's eyes.

 _'Damn it, I just had to not pay attention to my surroundings…'_ He berated himself.

"Uh, hey Pearl! What are you doing here?" He asked, hoping that she wouldn't ask too much about his "problem". Pearl shook her head slightly to get out of her thoughts and slowly walked over towards the ninja.

"Actually, that's what I was going to ask YOU. You've been living here for a little over a year now, and I've noticed that you always keep yourself awake every night. Naruto, you may be a gem, but I can see that the lack of sleep is clearly affecting you." She said, anxious about the blonde's health.

"Heh, it's like what I've always been saying. I just have trouble sleeping. Although it's true that unlike you, Garnet and Amethyst, I do need sleep. I just... can't bring myself to rest." He said observing the moon, his tense body unknowingly relaxing as Pearl's presence drew closer to him. He felt her take a seat beside him on the lighthouse rooftop and caught her concerned gaze in the corner of his eyes.

"Why can't you?" She asked. Pearl was worried about the blonde man. Like the others, she had grown quite fond of him and was saddened that he had been disregarding something that was important to his well-being.

"Just some… past experiences that are always reappear in my mind. It's no big deal." He said, trying to give her a convincing eye-smile. But even though he still had his face mask on, it was easy to see that this one was fake, compared to the bright and cheery ones that he had always given them in the past year. Pearl sighed and after a few minutes of calm silence, the peach-haired gem spoke.

"This definitely isn't the first time I have known that you were awake at this hour. With how you've been easily forcing yourself to stay awake, you're used to not sleeping at all, aren't you?" the pale woman gave Naruto a sad smile when she saw him nod slightly as he kept his head down. "I know that whatever these "past experiences" are, it's hard for you to deal with them, let alone tell anyone else about them. So, I'll leave you alone about this subject. One on condition. You have to promise me that you'll try to sleep at least once a week. Although you don't like to sleep, you still need to try as it is essential for your health. No matter how little the amount of rest you get, it's better than nothing. So, do we have an agreement?" Pearl stared at Naruto, waiting for his response. She knew that she wouldn't be able to stop him from staying awake every day and forcing him to sleep just seemed cruel considering why he avoided doing it in the first place. The best thing she could do about the situation was make a compromise. Four minutes of tense silence happened as Naruto mulled over the idea in his head. He then turned towards Pearl and gave her a small nod, she smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. The duo gazed up at the moon, soaking up the light that it emitted.

* * *

[A Few Days Later]

[Naruto's Mindscape]

"We'll have to leave the house soon if we want to continue the project." The shinobi spoke seriously.

 **"** **Yes. We have thought of and written down all of the possibilities there are to this thing, now we just need to test each of them and see which of them is the best and tweak it to perfection. We also need to communicate** _ **them**_ **at some point, but we need a more durable and secluded location than here. The summoning of those two is quite destructive and if there are any unexpected witnesses to their arrival, it would be quite… troublesome."** Kurama said, quoting a certain Nara at the end.

"Where can we go, though? While we could look for a new house, it would take quite a long time with all the processes we would have to go through to get ownership of it. We can't afford to waste time. The sooner we finish, the better…"

The shinobi and the bijuu lay on a grassy hill, both sighing as they racked their heads for an idea until Naruto perked up as he had gotten an epiphany.

"Kurama, you know how the temple is built inside a cliff?"

 **"** **Yeah?"**

"How about we do the same? Except, while the temple is in a secluded area, we should build our base in a place that only we can access!"

Kurama raised an eyebrow, **"What do you mean by "only we can access" exactly?"**

"I mean that we should look for a place that is quite far away from Beach City, but is close enough for us to get to the temple at a fast rate. The path that we would have to take to reach it also has to be treacherous enough so that no humans can somehow find it. But where could a place like that be…" He said, excitement surging through his veins at the prospect of creating their new base. He stood up, pacing back and forth as his eyes narrowed in concentration. After a few minutes he halted his movements and his head whirled to face the bored-looking Kurama as he snapped his fingers.

"I GOT IT!" Naruto exclaimed. "You know the cliff that the Gems said they made off-limits for humans because of some sentient moss?"

 **"** **Mm hmm?"** Kurama replied, refreshing his memory on the day that the females had taught them about their gem work.

"I remember that when they showed us that cliff from afar, it had jagged rocks at its bottom. So not only does it have rocks that were large and dangerous enough to make the toughest fishermen say that it is a restricted area, the way up to the top of the cliff is also close to Dead Man's Mouth, a place that the humans consider as dangerous. It's perfect! With those things no one would ever think of going to search there. Plus if we create the entrance behind the sharp outcrops, then with an additional genjutsu to cover the entrance, they won't know about any of the modifications that have been made!" He said giddily while the fox just chuckled at his little brother's childishness. "C'mon!"

His mental representation disappeared into the wind and Kurama shook his head before following his otouto's lead.

* * *

[Real World, 9:51 a.m.]

Naruto's eyes opened and a large grin formed from underneath his mask. He looked around, enjoying the view that the roof of the lighthouse gave him for a few seconds and then jumped off of the edge of the roof, landing silently onto the grassy floor as he spun around to sprint in the direction of the cliff. A few minutes later, Naruto was standing on water, facing the flat cliff face as Kurama appeared in a fire shunshin beside him.

 **"** **So… how are we going to do this?"** Naruto smirked at the bijuu's question, his form encased in a light-blue aura before rapidly forming multiple hand signs.

"Earth Style: Rock Platform!" He yelled as a rectangle of earth emerged from the wall in front of him, forming an earth floor that was jagged at the sides to make it look as if it was a natural part of the cliff.

"Earth Style: Tunnel Fist!" He jumped off the water and was now standing on the newly-created floor. After charging his fist with chakra, he punched the air in front of him; the force of his jutsu creating a long, straight, tunnel. He ran to the end of the passageway before making hand signs once more.

"Earth Style: Hidden Fox Den!" He cried placing his hands on the ground, the once smooth wall was now an entrance to a large cave as pillars of dirt that had been in the hole's place sunk into the ground. The blue energy disappeared and Naruto grinned under his mask, "Let's get started!"

* * *

[With Amethyst, 7:51 p.m.]

Amethyst walked through the dark city with her hands in her pocket, muttering curses at Pearl as she kicked the rocks on the pathway. It was late at night, all the shops were closed and the area was silent except for the occasional cries from stray animals.

"Stupid Pearl, stupid rules… not my fault they can't handle my awesomeness…" She murmured. She continued to walk down the empty road, passing by the empty Fish Stew Pizza until she paused when someone called her name.

"Amethyst!" Her head snapped left and right, searching for the one who had said her name when a familiar bright yellow caught her eye.

"Naruto?" The masked shinobi jogged up to her with Kurama by his side, an eye-smile on his face. "What are you doing here?"

 **"Heh, funny. That's what we were about to ask you."** The fox raised an eyebrow, looking at Amethyst in a calculating manner. Amethyst fidgeted a bit under the bijuu's stare until she was reminded of why she left the house in the first place and scowled.

"It's not fair. Garnet and Pearl are on my case again, it's always either "I'm too wild" or "I've gone too far". It's driving me nuts!" She growled, crossing her arms as she glared at the ground while the off-worlders shared a glance.

 _"Hmm, how about we show her that place?"_ Naruto asked.

 _ **"She's a gem. With her powers, she would decimate all the other contestants easily. But, I guess as long as she doesn't beat 'em up too much..."**_ Kurama trailed off at the end in thought.

 _"Beach City Underground_ is _a good outlet when you are under a lot of stress. Besides, we don't have to go there anymore. We only participated in their little games because of boredom and with our new base, we can just spar against each other without holding back!"_ The shinobi grinned under his mask.

 **"Amethyst."** The nine-tailed kitsune spoke. Amethyst pulled herself out of her thoughts and turned her gaze to the red fox.

"Hmm? What is it?"

The Uzumaki eye smiled at her, "Well, it seems that you are quite angry and have been holding in some stress. We know the perfect place for you to vent those emotions out."

The purple gem narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing them suspiciously. "Where?"

The two gestured for her to follow as they weaved through the multiple roads, stopping in front of an old abandoned warehouse. They walked to a nearby broken window, Naruto signalled for Amethyst to look through it using his head. The white-haired gem peered inside, her eyes widening in amazement at the large, box-shaped ring and the many people seated around it. She watched the man, who she vaguely remembered Steven call Mr. Smiley, shout into the object in his hand.

"Good Evening ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming here tonight! I hope that you enjoy the next couple of hours filled with action-packed fighting and without further ado, I welcome you to… BEACH CITY UNDERGROUND WRESTLING!" The bald man said as he sat behind a long table and yelled through a microphone.

"Awesome…" She muttered, observing burly humans tackle each other into the ring. Naruto chuckled at her reaction.

"Alright, Amethyst. See that guy with the microphone? Talk to him if you want to sign yourself up for the fights. I would suggest that you create a costume or getup like the others in there before participating, so that no one knows who you really are. Though, you can just use your powers and transform to change your appearance. Speaking of gem powers, because of them, you have a major advantage against everyone fighting. We'll let you join in the fighting and vent out your frustration if you promise that you don't beat them up _too_ much." Amethyst nodded hastily, adrenaline starting to pump through her veins at the prospect of engaging so many people in combat.

 **"** **Well, now that that's that, what are you waiting for? GET IN THERE!"** Kurama smirked at seeing Amethyst quickly change into a muscular, hairy man. He and Naruto both laughed at seeing her jumped straight through the window, aiming to join in as fast as possible.

"You think the wrestlers will be able to handle her?"

 **"** **Of course not. We might as well have sent Shinigami after them, at least if it were him they would have a slim chance at survival!"** The brothers howled in laughter, feeling sorry for those who would face Amethyst in the ring.

* * *

[One Week Later, 7:31 p.m.]

"-aaand… done! Okay, that should be the last of the sealing arrays as well as the furniture. All that's left is to key the others' energy signatures into the door mechanic and we're done here." Naruto smiled, wiping the sweat off of his forehead, marvelling at the sight of his finished home.

 **"** **Hmph, I still don't know why you insist on telling them about this place. I thought the purpose of creating the den was so that we could have a home that only we know about?"** Kurama huffed.

"Well, it's just in case we are needed by the Crystal Gems for an emergency. We will be here most of the time until the jutsu is finished." Naruto replied.

 **"** **I thought that the reason for you wanting to put those seals on them was so that they can contact us when we are needed for an emergency…"**

"The seals are to check their conditions, whether they're hurt, concerned, angry and all that. But I'll have to explain to them what the sealing matrixes I put on them are and what they do before I can actually mark the seals on them. Showing them the den will help out a lot by demonstrating what seals can do and it's also too suspicious if we say that we'll be living someplace else without telling them the location. Besides, you know our sense of forebodings are no small matter, they're similar to the ones we got back in the Elemental Nations before going through a life or death situation."

Kurama sighed **"Fine, Fine… Let's go get them already."**

* * *

[Crystal Gem Temple]

The three adult gems were discussing the disappearance of a certain shinobi and kitsune in the centre of the living room while a pyjama-wearing Steven was finishing a cup of milk and were surprised when a sudden, bright, flash of yellow filled their vision when Naruto and Kurama appeared on the couch. Naruto gave them an eye smile along with a two-fingered salute as he crouched on the sofa.

"Yo!"

"Where have you two been?! You've been gone for a week, we've been worried sick!" Pearl exclaimed, wondering how they appeared in the house with a flash of light.

Naruto chuckled sheepishly saying, "We've been busy with something. Actually, we're here to show you guys it. But at the moment, there's only one way to get there. So you guys are gonna have to trust us."

The gems had half curious and half suspicious looks on their faces, slowly nodding in admission. Naruto placed a hand on one of Garnet's and Pearl's shoulders while Kurama used two tails to hold on to Amethyst and Steven as another one touched Naruto's shoulder.

"Just stay calm, 'kay? This is gonna be weird since it's the first time for you guys." The shinobi reassured them, using the Hiraishin to teleport everyone to the cave's genjutsu-covered entrance.

* * *

[Den Entrance]

The jinchūriki and bijuu stood in front of the "flat wall" as the quartet took a few moments to reorient themselves after the foreign experience of Hiraishin.

"Where are we?" Steven asked, holding his head slightly, noticing that they were standing on a platform of earth and had large, spiky, structures that were dangerously close behind them.

Naruto chuckled making a "come" motion with his head, making his way to the "wall" saying, "Follow us."

"Wait, Naru- Huh?" Seeing that they were about to walk into a wall, Pearl was about to call out for them to stop when they went straight through what turned out to be a façade. "What the…"

The four shared a glance, making a silent agreement to follow the two and made their way tentatively to the wall. The adult gems were surprised that they were now stood in a small tunnel. Steven had a fascinated look on his face and sprinted to the end of the tunnel when he noticed that his "older brothers" were waiting there, the others shadowed him.

"So… why'd you bring us here, what's with the fake wall and is the wall behind you fake as well?" Amethyst asked with a raised eyebrow.

"All will be explained, but first…" Naruto replied, his sentence trailed off as seals appeared underneath the gems' feet. They glowed from red, to orange and then settled into green. "…let's key you guys in to the security system. Now that that's over and done with, shall we?"

Naruto smirked at their awed looks as the soil behind him split in half and parted to the sides, creating a doorway. He and Kurama calmly walked inside with the others in tow, his smirk growing even more in size when the four behind him gasped in stupefaction. They had gone into an enormous cave, it had a couch with a large, flat screen TV along with its own dining area and kitchen. There were multiple gym equipment such as barbell sets and weight benches along with a nap area situated in a corner for when Naruto and Kurama were bored. Three doors were fixed into the walls, one said "Meat Freezer", another had the sign "Bedrooms" and the last was a metal door that said "Training Area".

 **"** **Welcome to "The Den"."** Kurama said, one of his tails gesturing to the whole inside of the massive cavern. **"I understand that you have questions. But first, I must say that Naruto and I have been talking and we have chosen to move out of the Temple."**

The shinobi raised his hand to silence the incoming questions, "I know it's a bit sudden, but we have our reasons. First, me and Kurama like to… invent new attacks, unfortunately the process of their creation however is very destructive and would attract unnecessary attention if we decide to test them in the outside world. Second, while your house is definitely big, it was built to fit four inhabitants, not six. Third, while the chances of Rīfu discovering our current location are slim to none, it is better to be safe than to be sorry."

"But Naruto, I can understand your second and last reasons, but your first is no doubt confusing. If your techniques will be as destructive as you are making them seem as they are, then how would an underground base help you with that? Surely you would just create a very damaging cave-in?" Pearl inquired. The masked ninja was about to answer when the fox beat him to it.

 **"** **The reason why we have chosen to test them in this base is simple. This is no ordinary cave."** Kurama grunted. **"I guess you could say that we modified it, improving its spacial capacity as well as its durability."**

Seeing the looks of confusion on their faces, Naruto decided to elaborate, "You remember how we managed to clean up our first prank on Amethyst using mysterious symbols and how we used similar-looking ones on you guys to grant you entrance to this place?"

After seeing them nod in understanding, Naruto continued, "Well, those things are called seals. While the basics were common knowledge back where I am from, it is a very difficult art to master. Depending on your knowledge, creativity and level of mastery, you can do basically anything with seals and this cavern is absolutely filled with many arrays. The façade at the front of the tunnel is a permanent illusion being casted by a seal, our teleportation to this area was possible because of a seal and that room over there is a near-infinite, self-regenerating landscape is because of a seal." he said, pointing at the metal door to his right. As much as the gems wanted to say that what he had just stated was impossible, considering what they had seen him do in the past year or so, they knew he was dead serious.

"A-Alright, but other than showing us where you guys will stay, what was the point of showing us this place?" Garnet stuttered slightly, still shocked at the newly revealed ability the male gem had. Naruto in response, turned to his older brother.

"Kurama, take Steven for a run-around in the Training Area." He told him, the fox nodded and picked the boy up by the back of his shirt before opening and dashing through the metal door. "Okay, our reasoning for telling and showing you guys all this is because I have a feeling that trouble may begin to start up in the coming years. I don't know who will cause it or what their intentions are, but with how my life has turned out, whenever I get a foreboding feeling like this; I take it very seriously. So, as paranoid as I sound, I have invented seals that keep me up-to-date with your current status, such as if you have been poofed or feel as if you are in grave danger and as an added bonus it also lets you guys call me if you think the situation you are in calls for it. I have also tagged the side of the staircase inside the temple with a matrix which will teleport you in here should you ever have the need to. I thought that I'd explain how seals work and then place them on you rather than just tag you guys with them without you noticing."

Amethyst and Pearl turned their attention to Garnet, who was mulling over the idea in her head. After a few moments of silence, she spoke.

"Fine. You may place these… seals… on us, but in return, you must place one on yourself that shows us YOUR current status." She spoke, smiling at the incredulous look on his face. After a five-minute staring competition, the blonde relented after figuring out just how serious she was about the subject.

"Okay, okay, you guys can keep an eye on me too…" He sighed in resignation. "Though, if I were to draw a seal on you, you will have to undo your fusion Garnet."

The three gems were surprised at his request, none more so than Garnet herself.

"How- How did you-?" The tall gem stuttered.

"How did I know? Let's just say I have a sensing ability as well. Gems have an odd energy signature, different to the ones from humans. Take Steven for example, before you guys told me about him, I guessed that he may have been some sort of a gem hybrid as he had the auras of both a gem and a human. You have the energy signals of two gems inside of you and when you three said that when gems fuse, they turn into a different gem whose strength and appearance is a balanced mixture of the two original gems, I had a hunch that you yourself were a fusion. It's actually because of my sensing ability that I was able to integrate the unique energy that gems let out into the usage of seals."

"Whenever we think that we are starting to understand the skills you have, you come out and hit us with something like this. I'm guessing that the subject of Garnet's fusion is why you had Kurama take Steven away?" Pearl assumed.

"Yes. I didn't know if you wanted him to have knowledge of this information just yet." He said, giving a grin under his mask. "So, back to the topic at hand. Could you please un-fuse? Although I will still place a seal on you when you're Garnet, in the small possibility that you will un-fuse unwillingly, I will need to place seals on your other two forms so that I can still check up on you guys."

Garnet nodded in understanding, glowing as her form split into two, shorter figures. One had light-blue hair and navy-coloured skin with white, elbow-length gloves and a dark-blue gem in her right palm. The other had scarlet-coloured skin and dark, puffy hair that was stylized similarly to Garnet's. She wore a gauntlet over her left hand and her gem was located in the palm of her right. The blonde unsealed a calligraphy brush from his arm and spent the next ten minutes drawing the seals around the gems' wrists.

"One last little thing aaand…" Naruto trailed off, finishing the last symbol on the re-fused Garnet's wrist with a flick. "…done!"

Pearl and Amethyst inspected the symbols that wrapped around their wrists like bracelets. It was strange, they had gotten ink on themselves once before during an incident when Steven was still a baby and they had easily felt the dried liquid on the flesh of their physical forms. Yet, the ink on their wrists felt as if there had been nothing written there at all.

"Okay, all that's left is to put one on Steven, show you guys how to use the teleportation matrix and we're done here!" He quickly spun around and was about to head to the metal door when he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Aren't you forgetting your part of our agreement?" Garnet smirked.

The blonde sighed, he was hoping that they had instantly forgotten that. Begrudgingly he wrote a seal on his left arm's wrist and placed another symbol on each gems' forearms.

"There. Happy now?" He grumbled, he then pointed to the three marks on his own forearm and the new ones on theirs "This symbol on your forearms is a "controller's" seal. It will flash a different colour depending on what the bearer of the "controlled's" seal, in your case me, is feeling about their current situation. Purple is for rage, blue is for fear, orange means that they are in danger, yellow is that they're injured and if it keeps flashing red then that means they are in need of immediate assistance. The seals will disappear and will only become visible if they activate, the severity of their situation is shown in how defined the colour is. For example if the mark appears as a very faded, light purple colour, then they are probably only a little agitated about something."

The trio memorized the information and watched as Kurama brought Steven back, the child had a mesmerized expression at the sight of the brush's fluid strokes against his skin. Naruto stood up and smirked at his work. He walked over to the tri-pronged kunai hung beside the entrance and put his hand on it, using his other one to beckon the others to approach him.

"Alright, just like the seals I just placed on you guys, I modified this one so that it will work for you. You know how you use the warp pad? It's the same. Just imagine a location that has one of these things and with your hand on this, you get transported there right away. There's already one back at the temple. Steven, you'll learn how to do this when you're older." Naruto said, picking Steven up and disappearing in a flash of light with the others following suit.

* * *

[Crystal Gem Temple]

[8:58 p.m.]

Naruto rolled his shoulders to get rid of the aches. He saw three flashes, one peach, one black and one white as the three gems arrived, his gaze turned to the clock and then to Steven.

"Well, it's time for you to go to bed squirt, I hope you have a good night. I have to go now. I'll see ya later, kiddo." He eye-smiled, messing the little boy's hair while the females went straight to the inside of the temple. But before he could take a step towards the kunai, Steven wrapped his little arms around his legs as tight as possible.

"Please stay, just for tonight?" He pleaded, giving the older male the puppy dog eyes. He didn't want his older brother to leave.

Naruto's eyes softened and he ruffled the boy's hair again. "Heh, who could say no to a face like that? Go to bed buddy, I'll be here on the couch."

Steven beamed up at him, shouting out a loud "Good Night!" as he ran up the stairs and fell asleep the moment his blankets covered him. Naruto chuckled, he stretched his arms as he yawned and flinched when he realized what he was doing.

 _"No… nonononono!"_ He panicked, _"_ _Why… Why now?!"_

 _ **"*sigh* Kit, you've been working on the Den for a whole week straight. Of course you're tired. You** **need to sleep. In case you have forgotten,** **you still have a promise to uphold, remember?"**_

 _"…I remember.'_

 _ **"Good. Now sleep."**_

The blonde stiffly walked to the couch and lied down, closed his eyes and let the darkness slowly lull him to sleep.

* * *

[2:14 a.m.]

A gem on the temple door glowed light-blue as it slid open. Pearl walked out to check on the two males, only to hear yells emanate from the couch.

"Naruto!" She hurried her pace and saw Naruto twisting and turning on the couch, his arms waved around as if he was protecting himself from an invisible enemy. The peach-haired gem went closer to him, kneeled down and tried to shake him wake him awake to no avail. She held her head in panic, trying to think of how to wake him. Pearl raised her hand to try and rouse him from his slumber once more and paused when she saw him start to calm. She drew her hand back, causing him to begin writhing again.

' _What?'_ She thought confusedly. Pearl brought her hand to him again, his thrashing slowing as it went closer. She tentatively put her hand on his head, running it through his hair soothingly, his struggling slowly turned into light squirming before stopping completely.

' _Just what have you gone through…?'_ She thought as she continued her ministrations, staring at the blonde's masked face.

 **"Well… Isn't this an interesting development?"** Pearl jumped slightly in fright, her head snapping to the right, facing the smirking Kurama.

"I- Uh… Uhm…" She stuttered, her hand still in Naruto's hair.

 **"Heh. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Well, maybe Naruto."** He grinned at her blushing face as she tried to intimidate the fox with the harshest glare she could muster in her current situation. Pearl turned her head away from his amused face and Kurama laughed a bit more before stopping. Silence filled the room for ten minutes, the two gazing down at the shinobi.

 **"You know, I'm quite glad that you are able to calm him down."** He spoke softly as he stared at his little brother's content face, the fox's tone making Pearl look toward him in surprise. **"I worry about kit. Every time he tries to sleep, this happens and... I can never do anything about it."**

The bijuu sighed, **"He never really had a good life, especially when he was still a kid. Because of this, he never stops watching his back, even when he's around those he trusts. He was never always this secretive. He's built walls over his heart, and keeps on reinforcing them as time passes. But ever since we arrived here, the shell that hides his true self has been cracking. Kit's always tense, always on guard… even when he's asleep. Yet, your mere presence calms him. So do me a favour? Please help me break the armour that he has built over time."**

Pearl blinked at Kurama silently for a few seconds, her gaze switching from him to the calm face of Naruto. She grew a small smile, "I'll help."

Kurama smiled, nodding in thanks before going back to sleep at the foot of the couch. Pearl focused on Naruto once more, her smile still on her face.

 _'I don't know what you've gone through or what you're going through right now, but I promise that me and the others will not let you go through it alone.'_


	6. Chapter 6

**Yo! Crazy7634, here. Look, for once, the chapter is actually ON TIME! Hahah, life achievement right there. FINALLY! Since the story is now on the road of the main storyline, updates will probably come much easier now (I probably just jinxed myself). Also, here's a tip. Some parts of this chapter are actually** _ **slight**_ **foreshadowings for future scenes in this story. Don't worry, they're pretty- no, scratch that. They're VERY obvious. So, I'd like to go ahead and thank all the people who followed, favourited and reviewed this story. If I have made a mistake or if you have a suggestion on as to how I could make this chapter and/or story better, feel free to tell me by PM or review. To those who for some reason count the number of words on each chapter or notice small changes in stories: Yes, this chapter is a few hundred words shorter than the previous one, mostly because it isn't late, and I have changed the thought marks from these: " " . To these: ' '. But, if Kurama and Naruto are talking to each other via the mindscape, it is _" "_**. **That's all with my rambling. I'll see you guys on the next chapter of… A Second Chance.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything, especially Naruto and Steven Universe.**

* * *

Chapter 6 – The Beginning

[Two Years Later]

[In The Den]

"Alright, we need to tell them that we fixed the few complications left in the technique. Once we've done that, we'll be able to communicate with _those two_. Their assistance is essential, after all." Naruto said, putting his brush down on the desk as he and Kurama stared at the completed jutsu theory in front of him. He really was happy that they were able to access the bijuu's first jinchūriki's memories. The information that they were able to receive from her gave them a great advantage against the time the jutsu-recreation was supposed to take.

 **"** **Hmph, finally! With all the assets that we had, it still took quite a while. But at least three years is better than ten."** Naruto nodded in agreement, standing up to stretch his aching spine and arms. Sitting still never was in his skill set. The ninja walked over to the workbench on the other side of the workshop, absentmindedly picking up a black shirt that had the will of fire on the front and put it on. He had installed this room along with an armoury and a forge a few months after the den had been made, its purpose solely to hold their jutsu plans as well as his… inventions. When he had time to do something other than working on the technique and training, using his gym equipment to get rid of boredom had started to get old. So, he chose to take up a new hobby and learnt how to build items from the advanced technology that he had obtained from the many platoons that Rīfu continued to send. He smirked as he ran his hand over the smooth surface of the board on the table, before sealing it into his arm and turning to his sibling.

"We should go check up on the others. I wonder if they've taken care of that small centipede thing they saw in the house..." He thought out loud, a hand on his chin. "While stealing all those cat-shaped treats that Steven loves was fun, it was way too easy. Especially when the two of us basically _walked_ into the boss's office in their company building to get their recipe. This world really needs to take its security more seriously."

 **"** **They are taking their security seriously. They just don't know that they were supposed to be defending their buildings from a ninja of the Elemental Nations."**

The duo's ears twitched when they heard a very, very faint "Noooo!" reach the underground cavern.

 **"** **Well, no doubt Steven has found out about Cookie Cat's discontinuation."** Kurama chuckled along with Naruto. The others hadn't changed of course, but then again neither did Naruto. The ninja hadn't aged since he turned twenty all those years ago and was taller than Garnet herself. But what was odd to the shinobi and bijuu was that Steven hadn't grown an inch in the past three years, he was still around the same height as Amethyst. True, it was probably due to the fact that he was half gem, but they had expected him to grow in height normally due to his human half.

"Heh. Well, we better tell him about the stash in their freezer before he goes into anaphylactic shock. We also have to leave for _that_ again." The shinobi smirked, changing into dark-green cargo pants, black combat boots, and a black belt which had a golden fox head buckle. He put on the brown, hooded cloak that he had been wearing when the Gems found him before using the Hiraishin kunai by the cave entrance to teleport into the house.

* * *

[Crystal Gem Temple]

"Oh, JEEZ!" The blonde exclaimed, narrowly avoiding the blob of glowing, green acid that was now dissolving the floor where he once stood. He looked around and saw Garnet and Amethyst fighting against many gem beasts while Steven and Pearl were peering down a hole made by one of the centipede-like monsters. "You know, when me and Kurama were here earlier, I'm pretty sure that there weren't THIS many creatures and damaged areas in the house. What are these things anyway?"

"They're centipeetles, a mixture between a centipede and a beetle. It turns out that the one we saw earlier wasn't the only one here. There's actually an infestation of them." Pearl answered, watching Naruto flick one of them on its "beak" and winced when the poor thing crashed into the wall beside the temple door at high speeds.

"The fact that there are so many of these things isn't the only problem we have at the moment. These centipeetles don't have gems, guys." Amethyst called out, picking her nose with a pinkie.

"No gems? There must be a mother nearby then…" Garnet replied, not even flinching as she punched the centipeetle that attempted to attack her from her blindside.

"Well, I guess we're going to have to look for it before it decides to go to Beach City and cause a massive ruckus." Pearl said, sweatdropping when she saw Naruto and Kurama play tug-of-war using an unfortunate centipeetle. Steven's eyes lit up and his pupils were replaced with stars at the mention of hunting down the "Mother".

"Oh, oooh! Can I come? Can I? Can I? Can I?!" He yelled, staring up at Pearl with a pleading look on his face which made the peach-haired gem chuckle.

"I'm sorry Steven. But until you learn to summon your weapon as well as fully utilize your gem, it's too dangerous for you to be out doing missions with us. So for now, just leave the world-saving to us, alright?" She smiled, calmly snapping the neck of the creature in her arms making it disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Aww man…" he sighed disappointedly, before a crash from the fridge's direction got his attention. "HEY! Get out of there!"

Steven ran into to the kitchen area, shooing the centipeetle who was looking through their freezer away. The thing scampered off with a can in its maw, intending to escape the home and get back to its mother. It paused when a foot stomped in front of it and the small beast looked up with some fright as it saw the imposing form of Garnet while said gem popped her knuckles impassively.

"Dang it, it got into EVERYTHING! Not cool!" He yelled to the centipeetle at fault as it flew past him after taking a punch from one of Garnet's gauntlet-covered fists. He turned back to close the fridge doors only to see a sight that nearly made his heart stop. The freezer was filled with Cookie Cats!

"N-No way… It can't be! Where did you get these?!" He half-asked and half-shouted, tentatively holding one of the many pink packets. "I thought they stopped making them!"

"Heh, well, we heard that too… and since they're your favourite~" Pearl started as she stood behind the boy before she was cut off.

"-We went out and stole a bunch!" Amethyst snickered mischievously, sitting on the kitchen counter. Her bluntness making Pearl sigh and roll her eyes.

"I had to go back and pay for all of them." She grumbled, sending the white-haired gem a look who just gave her a grin in return.

 _"_ _Well, not all of them. They don't know about the ones_ we _took."_ Naruto thought with a wide smile underneath his mask.

 _ **"**_ _ **If she did, then she would've gone back to pay for those as well. These guys would've been bankrupt!"**_ The two kept unassuming faces outside while they guffawed hysterically in their mindscapes as they thought about the massive stash of delicious treats that sat in the Den's large freezer.

"The whole thing was _my_ idea." Garnet stated, walking over to the others while her hands started to glow.

"It was _everyone'_ s idea." Amethyst said, putting emphasis on "everyone".

"Not really…" the square-haired gem mumbled, her gauntlets transforming into wisps of magical energy that retreated back into the gems in her hands.

"Ohhh…!" The child cried, as he started to sing the Cookie Cat theme.

The gems stared at Steven, listening to his song with rapt attention. They all shared a laugh and clapped when the young boy finished doing his antics while Kurama ruffled his hair with a tail.

"I can't believe you did this, I'm gonna save these FOREVER!" He promised before adding, "…Right after I eat this one."

He ripped one end of the plastic off and pulled the cat-shaped dessert out of its packet.

"Hello old friend." He whispered, biting the treat's left ear out, marvelling at the taste. Not noticing that the gem on his bellybutton had started to expel a pink light. "Oh, so good! I love eating the ears first."

"Uhm, k-kid?" Naruto sputtered, pointing at his stomach. The young universe looked down to see that his gem was glowing through his shirt.

"My gem!" He yelled out, surprised.

"C'mon, try to summon your weapon!" Amethyst suggested from her perch on the kitchen counter. The light started to dim, causing Steven to panic.

"Aah! It's fading, how do I make it come back?!" He cried, hopping from foot to foot. Pearl quickly held her hands up in a placating manner.

"Calm down Steven, breathe. Don't force it." She said with a gentle voice, trying to calm the distressed half-gem.

"Gahah, try not to poop yourself either!" Amethyst joked with a smirk, unknowingly causing Naruto and Kurama to tense and slowly get themselves ready to bolt in case the boy did do so by accident.

"Please. Don't." The tall, sunglass-wearing female beside her deadpanned, subtly flicking the giggling gem behind the ear. The crystal's glow dimmed even more before disappearing completely, everyone sighing in disappointment as the light left.

"Awww, I was really close that time!" Steven moaned, looking up at the three females. "Can one of you just explain how to summon a weapon?"

Pearl lit up at this, "Ooh, I'll go first~!" she said in a sing-song voice.

* * *

[One Hour and Three Explanations Later]

"Aww man, I don't know what to do." Steven whined as he sat on the couch beside his older brothers. "Which one is the right way to do it? I'm supposed to either not try to summon my weapon and it just appears in my hands, somehow control all the stuff that makes everything else in the world work or practice really hard so that I can dance like a tree... What do you guys think?"

"Wait… what was that last one?" Naruto asked, a confused expression on his face while the female Crystal Gems sweatdropped from their places in the kitchen. It seemed that their explanations may have been too complex/undetailed for the young child to understand. The blonde shook the question out of his head. "Anyway, from what I've heard, every gem has their own way of summoning their weapon. So while those methods may work for the others, they probably won't work for you. Don't worry so much about it buddy, just let it come to you naturally."

"Awww… but I want to go out on missions with you guys!" The Universe grumbled, pouting before he perked up as a thought entered his head. "Hang on, what about you Naruto? You're a gem too. So what's your way of summoning your weapon?"

Naruto and Kurama's eyes widened as they flinched at the question while the Crystal Gems stared at them with curious expressions.

 _'Come to think of it, in the past three years he's been here, he's never taken his weapon out before…'_ The three females thought while Steven turned to fully face his gem older brother, eager for his answer. Naruto stuttered as he started to answer.

"Well- I…"

 **"We digress. Now Steven, back to the subject of YOUR weapon. How about we try re-creating what happened the last time your gem glowed? With the little progress we've made so far, it's our best bet at getting your weapon out."** Kurama interjected, successfully changing the boy's focus back to the topic at hand. His interruption however made the other gems narrow their eyes and raise their eyebrows in curiosity.

The boy ran around, pushing everyone into the places they had been before. He urged Amethyst to cross her arms, angled Pearl's foot a centimetre to the left and tilted Garnet's face until her head was looking up slightly as Naruto and Kurama stood in front of the boy who had situated himself by the fridge. The five watched the boy hurriedly sing a few parts of the ice cream theme song before plopping down on the ground, his enthusiasm gone.

"*sigh* Maybe I'm not a real Crystal Gem…" He said dejectedly. Pearl kneeled down and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Don't be silly Steven, of course you are." She gave him a small smile.

"You're one of us Steven, we're not the Crystal Gems without you." Amethyst encouraged while Garnet nodded in agreement.

"Chin up, kiddo. Stuff like this doesn't just come to you on the fly. You gotta focus and keep on trying your best at it, don't let this minor setback get you down." Naruto added as he and Kurama ruffled the boy's hair. Stars replaced the boy's pupils once again.

"Yeah, I won't give up on this! Even if I don't have powers, I've still got Cookie Cat!" He proclaimed, taking a large bite out of the frozen treat. His eyes were closed in his joy, not noticing that his gem was glowing again and was currently forming his weapon in front of the others.

"Steven… it's a shield!" Pearl managed to say as she and the others let out gasps of amazement. Her statement made Steven's eyes snap open.

"Oh, what! I get a shield?! Ohh… YEAH!" He yelled out. He jumped in happiness, accidentally sending the shield rocketing from his gut. It bounced from wall to wall before imbedding itself into Steven's TV. Garnet stayed silent and Pearl face palmed as Amethyst, Naruto and Kurama laughed at what the shield had just done.

 _"I thought causing harm was the opposite of what a shield is supposed to do…"_

 _ **"**_ _ **It is."**_

Steven stared at the half-eaten Cookie Cat in his hand, "Cookie Cat! I summoned by weapon through eating ice cream!"

 ** _"_** _ **Pretty sure that's not how the summoning of gem weapons work."**_

 _"No it doesn't Kurama, but let the kid have his moment of happiness."_

Naruto and Pearl shared a glance, the shinobi saying, "You know, I'm starting to get suspicious about what they put inside those things…"

"You and me both." Pearl replied, picking up the ripped Cookie Cat wrapper on the floor, looking at the list of contents.

"Well, me and Kurama have to go. We haven't been outside for a while, we're just going to run around." The shinobi told the spear-wielding gem. She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, the wrapper still clutched in her hand.

"As long as you'll be back by night time. You still have a promise to keep." She reminded him.

"Of course. Until then, I'll see you guys later." He nodded, placing a hand on Kurama's side and disappeared with him in a flash of light.

* * *

[With Naruto and Kurama]

The shinobi and fox were on high alert as their figures appeared in a bright, yellow flash. Naruto was on a knee, his cold, ice-blue eyes scanning the clearing where he had been severely injured all those years ago. Kurama jumped onto a branch, gazing down on the forest floor from his perch. The blonde unsealed what seemed to be a humming, metal surfboard that had rocket-shaped thrusters attached to both sides of one end. It had blue lines of energy that pulsed every few seconds as it hovered on its own. Naruto hopped onto the odd contraption, channelling nature chakra through his body and into the machine, its hums quickly turning into roars as the power flowed through it.

"Alright Kurama, time to keep Rīfu's eyes away from Beach City again." He said, gone was the cheeky tone that he had used with the Crystal Gems and it was replaced with the voice of a veteran warrior.

 **"** **Same as last time, with you on the air and me on the ground?"** He grunted, receiving a silent nod in return. The two went in separate directions, the red quadruped running through the forest while the blonde-haired Uzumaki zoomed the other way using his hoverboard.

* * *

[Crystal Gem Temple]

[11:41 p.m.]

Pearl leaned on the railing of the house's porch, relishing the seaside wind blowing against her skin, not flinching when felt a disturbance in the air as a figure appeared behind her in a small twister of leaves. She had gotten used to his usage of strange techniques a long time ago. Pearl smiled when she felt the shinobi walk up to her right and lean on the railing as well.

"So, how was your "super-long walk"? Where's Kurama?" She smirked, not taking her gaze off of the ocean.

"*chuckle* I have no idea what you're talking about, we just went off exploring. The fox chose to stay at the Den, saying that his bed was too comfortable to leave. Heh, for once we didn't cause each other any bodily harm." Naruto replied, staring down at the beach.

"Is that so?" Pearl scrutinized him from the corner of her eye before turning back to the ocean and punched him on the side. The blonde didn't make any signs of irritation and merely sighed when he felt blood leak out of the deep slice he had gotten from a thrown sword. "...because this seems like an injury to me."

"Heheh, well I may or may not have gotten a small, shallow cut…" He chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Naruto, a "small, shallow cut" wouldn't do THIS." She deadpanned, lifting her right hand which was now completely covered in fresh blood. "C'mon, let's get you fixed up before you do something that somehow makes it worse. The fact that this wound is still at this level even though you have a fast healing rate means that the original injury was much, much worse."

Naruto sighed and slouched as he trudged after her in the direction of her room without question, knowing that she was as stubborn as him when she got an idea in her head. The door slid open and the two leaped onto the center platform in the room, Pearl willing a bookcase of healing items to rise from the main waterfall. Naruto plopped down and sat cross-legged on the water, staring at Pearl as he waited patiently. He and the ballerina-like gem had gotten closer in the past years, to the point that he had been comfortable enough to remove his face mask around her which, unfortunately for him in some cases, had lead to her finding out about the calming effect of rubbing his sensitive whiskers. She had watched over him on his one-day-a-week sleeps and was always by his side for these nights to keep away the warped memories. He chuckled slightly at the memory of Pearl catching him injured after a particular "Rīfu mission" with Kurama one year ago. He hadn't concealed a stab well enough and had left a part of the jutsu theory in his cloak by mistake, the article of clothing which had been forgotten on the couch. He had silently teleported to the temple, grabbed it and was about to use Hiraishin to leave when he accidentally bumped into Pearl. She had gotten blood on her hands from the collision and had berated him for trying to hide his wounds. Since then, she had grown used to his habit of hiding any injuries he may have gotten and made it her job to check if he had any after every "Rīfu mission" and fix him up, even though the damage his body took never lasted long. He took his blue shirt off and held it in front of him, staring at the patch of blood on its side.

 _'I guess changing my shirt was a bad idea, it just made it obvious that I was trying to hide something… At least no blood got on my chest wrappings.'_ He sweatdropped, his attention switching from the shirt to Pearl as she walked towards him with a wet rag and a roll of bandages.

"Honestly, you should be more careful. With how skilled you are at fighting, I thought that you would get out of these missions unscathed." She sighed. Kneeling down, she wiped the blood off of his torso and wrapped the deep cut in bandages.

"Heheh, sorry. Kurama does always tell me that no matter how powerful I get, my carelessness will never change…" He chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, not mentioning that he himself was confused as to why he always ended up injured after these missions. But if anyone were to ask Kurama, he would chuckle and say that the shinobi always subconsciously downplayed his ability to fight every mission, as if deep inside he did want to get injured just to have a reason to see Pearl again other than his once-a-week sleeps.

"There, all done!" She smiled at the sight of the now dressed wound and stood up. "Now come on, it's already late. You still need your rest remember?"

"I remember…" He smiled, following her to the large cherry tree that she had in the Crystal Temple. She sat down and leaned her back against the tree's trunk, running a hand through his spiky locks soothingly as he laid his head on her lap while her other hand scratched his whiskers gently. The male let out light, guttural purrs in his throat as he closed his eyes, letting the gem's ministrations and humming lull him to a calm slumber.

* * *

[Three Days Later, 3:41 p.m.]

[The Den Forge]

*CLANG!*

*CLANG!*

*CLANG!*

The sound of the collisions between metal and metal filled the hot, stone room. The forge had a large furnace attached to one wall, a workbench on another. There were sets of unfinished armour and weapon racks at the opposite side of the workbench and an anvil was situated in the centre of the room while a door occupied the final wall. A masked, shirtless blonde shaped a heated, chakra-infused, ferocious-looking, canine's helmet. A few minutes later, he stopped his banging and inspected the slightly-glowing object and smirked at his work before dousing it with an ice-cold water jutsu. He picked it up and turned it around multiple times, checking all sides for any imperfections. After seeing that there were none he nodded in approval and walked towards his bored older brother who was sleeping beside the door.

"Hey, Kurama, check this out!" He grinned, holding heavy armour pieces in his left hand and shook the fox awake with his right.

 **"** **Okay, okay! I'm up. What do you want kit?"** Kurama grumbled, smiling in his head as he looked at his now frequently-grinning younger sibling, silently thanking Pearl and the other Gems for helping him slowly turn back into his old self.

"Though you don't get injured very often and when you do you heal quickly like me, I'm making you a set of chakra-infused armour that will definitely give us lots of amusing reactions from Rīfu's soldiers!" He snickered. Kurama raised an eyebrow and stood up from his position, stretching like a cat to help his aching joints. "So, I just need you to try this stuff out. They're made out of the same metals that the Uzushiogakure blades are made of; which means that the armour, while light, is tougher than Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō."

Naruto placed the helmet on Kurama's head, the fox noting that it was about as light as a feather, before attaching the rest of the armour on him. Seals engraved to the inside of the helmet activated and the armour pieces attached itself to the bijuu's body using his chakra.

"Sooo?" Naruto eye-smiled and urged his brother to give him feedback. The fox shook his form rapidly, checking if there was any form of discomfort and if the helmet would fall off due to quick movements. The silver helm stayed in place and the fox "Hmmed".

 **"** **Things won't fall off if we need to make hasty escapes, so that's good. The set is strong and doesn't add much weight to me, so my movements won't be slowed down too much if I wear it during battle…"** the fox appraised.

"Kurama, channel chakra into it." Naruto suggested with a smirk. The fox raised an eyebrow before doing as he was told and was surprised to see that the armour burst into flames, the heat not damaging him at all. "Cool, right? It's like that because your main element is fire, but because of your bijuu abilities to control all elements, you can choose which type of chakra to channel. You can also order the armour to do what you want it to using your mind. What its abilities are, however, depends on the element you're channeling. Water lets you control tendrils of liquid, earth will cause large amounts of rock to rise and be chucked, and lightning allows you to send bolts of electricity at opponents while wind should let you send blades of air."

 **"** **Heheheh… oh, I will have lots of fun with this!"** the fox chuckled evilly, muttering of ways to make the humans "piss their pants" causing his jinchūriki to sweatdrop at his antics. Naruto was taking the armour set off of Kurama and was about to place them on the workbench when the room started to shake and the seals on the shinobi's arm glowed dark blue. They shared a glance as they quickly shunshined to the Gem's location, the armour clattering noisily on the ground, forgotten.

* * *

[Beach City's Beach]

[With The Crystal Gems]

"It's not working! We're not making even a tiny scratch on it, it's going to crash!" Pearl cried out, a panicked look on her face. She and Garnet watched Amethyst swim back to shore when a sudden flash of light caught their eye and they saw Naruto and Kurama appear beside them.

"What's going on, what is that thing?!" The still shirtless shinobi yelled.

"It came from Gem Homeworld, it's called a Red Eye!" Garnet shouted back. Naruto gave her an incredulous look, his eyes switching from Garnet and Pearl to the large eyeball and back to the two gems.

"I am pretty sure that thing isn't a viral disease!" Kurama sighed in exasperation, glancing at his jinchūriki.

 **"** **You're thinking about PINK EYE Naruto…"** He grumbled.

"Ohhh… that makes much more sense!" Kurama sighed at the Uzumaki's random bouts of idiocy.

"Focus, you two! If that thing lands, it will crush all of Beach City and all of its inhabitants!" Pearl yelled over the harsh gusts of wind, sighing in her mind. _'Seriously. At this point, I don't know whether he's affecting Steven or Steven is affecting him.'_

The two's eyes turned ice-cold at this and they glared at the humungous contraption.

 **"** **Where's Steven?"** Kurama growled out.

"He left for Greg's, to see if he has Rose's light cannon. It's the only thing we have that can destroy something like THIS." Garnet replied.

 _"_ _Kurama, you think we should butt in? I can sense that Steven is getting close and that Greg is with him, yet_ _we could end this now with a Rasenshuriken. While a_ _Bijūdama would definitely decimate it, it would probably also take out Beach City along with the_ _eye."_

The two looked at the others and saw that Greg and Steven were dragging a large, pink, weapon to their location.

 _ **"IF worse comes to worst, use Rasenshuriken. Bijūdama is much too powerful**_ _ **for this, not to mention it's going to be too hard to explain to the Gems without**_ _ **revealing too much information. We may trust them and have been with them**_ _ **for years, we are still shinobi. If we have learnt anything from everything that our profession entails, it would be that it's always better to be safe**_ _ **than to be**_ _ **sorry."**_

The two observed the others for a few more minutes and saw that the machine was not functioning and that the Gems were frantically attempting to activate it.

 _"I should start charging the_ _-"_

The Uzumaki was cut-off by Steven's shout of surprise. The off-worlders' heads snapped to the Gems' direction, the sound of segments moving and locking into place reaching their ears. The cannon tried to aim itself, but the years of misuse did not do it well as the aiming mechanism failed and the cannon muzzle fell into the sand. He and the others noticed Steven trying to lift it with great difficulty and immediately rushed to help.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Garnet warned as the cannon's end glowed pink and shot a bright beam at the red eye. The stream of light transformed into a budding rose that had thorny vines spinning around its stem. It stayed like this for a few moments before blooming into a woman who was reaching a hand towards the red eye and had multiple budding roses surrounding her. The powerful energy hit the over-sized body part and caused it to explode, sending bits of rock-like material crashing into many areas of Beach City.

"Steven, you just saved most of Beach City!" Amethyst said while the boy yelled out a loud "Sorry about that!" to the confused citizen who was standing by his damaged shop. While the others messed around, knee-deep in water, trying to get Greg's van back to shore; Naruto and Kurama stared at the rising moon, their eyes narrowed and serious as they inspected the empty sky.

* * *

[Two Days Later]

[Crystal Gem Temple, 1:41 p.m.]

"Hello, Steven." Garnet nodded at the young boy as he opened the door.

"Huh?" Steven was all he could say as he entered the house holding what seemed to be a giant burger and saw Pearl trying to dissuade Amethyst from shoving a giant egg into the fridge while Naruto and Kurama were playing tug-of-war with a long rope that they got from… somewhere.

"For the last time Amethyst, that egg won't fit in the fridge!" Pearl sighed, watching Amethyst pull the contents of the cold machine out and drop them carelessly on the ground before shoving the giant egg in her arms in their place.

"Oh, man! We can make a big omelette, or a quiche or…" Amethyst rambled on excitedly, slamming the fridge door closed. Naruto and Kurama paused their game for a second, sweatdropping when a loud cracking sound reached their ears.

 _"I'm pretty sure she can't make anything with that egg. From the sounds of it, she just broke the thing…"_ Naruto thought, Kurama nodding in agreement.

"…you should let us take care of it." The blonde's ears twitched.

"What?! But, I'm a gem! C'mon Pearl!" The boy protested, pointing to his bellybutton.

"But you've still got a lot to learn!" The pale gem tried to reason with the young Universe, not wanting the half-human to be put in danger.

"Then let him come, it'll be educational!" Amethyst added.

"But-"

"-Pearl." Naruto interjected, gaining the gem's attention. The shirtless blonde looked into her eyes, narrowing his cerulean orbs and nodded at her. Pearl sighed, remembering the conversation that the five had the previous night.

* * *

[Flashback]

[Under The Cherry Tree, 1:31 a.m.]

 **"** **You can't keep babying him forever. He's getting anxious, you have to start teaching him at some point. He may be young, but he is not as defenceless as he once was when he was younger."** Kurama grunted, sitting on his haunches in front of the tree and beside a standing Naruto. They stared at the three gems across them, the trio looking everywhere but at the brothers, not wanting to meet their gazes. **"By protecting him from the harsh realities of the job he wants to take, you are only putting him in more danger by not preparing him for the difficulties he will no doubt face in the future. As much as you three don't want to admit it, you won't always be there to protect him."**

"We know that we will have to train him. But, although he isn't that young anymore, he is still a child. We just want him to have a fairly normal childhood." Garnet replied stoically.

"Look, we understand that you want him to be as normal as he can be while he is still a kid. But you also have to understand that even though he is half human, his gem half is going to cause trouble for him. Fighting gems and gems monsters is in his blood and it's what he wants to do. If you keep on trying to hold him back from that, then he will just choose to go on and fight anyway, trained properly or not; his bravery in engaging the Mother Centipeetle three days ago is proof of this." Naruto sighed at their saddened expressions, he knew that they understood. "We aren't saying that you teach him a few basic moves and then immediately throw him into complicated battles. You have to at least start teaching him about things like his gem history, battle tactics and knowing when to fight or flight. Trust us when we say that training him now, is better than later. Where me and Kurama are from, conflict and war is everywhere. Because of this, each nation had academies that were dedicated to cultivating children into deadly warriors from a very young age, preparing them to go on life-or-death missions against opposing countries. Those that weren't trained properly or didn't take their training seriously, didn't survive their first major assignment."

Naruto paused for a moment, thinking about how Dosu Kinuta and the other Oto genin were taken down quite easily despite the overconfidence they had in their skills. He shook his head and continued to speak.

"I know how it is to lose people close to you and I'm sure that you do too. You have told me about the war between Rose Quartz and the Gem Homeworld. The fact that they lost the war, will definitely cause most of them become hostile towards anyone who is somehow related to Rose. Those same, grudge-holding gems from space? After thousands of years, they are starting to make a move; if the Red Eye is any indication. No matter how hard you guys try to prevent it, they will get to Earth somehow and I am sure that when they find out that Steven has Rose Quartz's gem, they will choose to target HIM above all. Now, I don't know about you guys, but I sure as heck don't want to lose Steven just because he didn't know what to do during a battle. I've lost families twice already… I don't want to lose this one either." Naruto said, muttering the last part to himself as he was reminded of his late parents and surrogate family members, not realizing that the others managed to hear him.

 _'_ _What did he mean by that?'_ The three thought, while Kurama looked at the ground in sadness. The three shared a glance, nodding at each other as they came to a silent agreement.

"Alright, we'll start taking him on missions so that he can get some experience but we would like to give him a test first. If he passes, we'll begin teaching him more about his powers and will bring him with us on missions more frequently. If you could, maybe you can help him with strengthening his attacks, raising his stamina and all that?" Garnet asked, facing Naruto who nodded in acceptance.

[Flashback End]

* * *

 _'_ _*Sigh* Well, I guess this is a simple enough mission to test Steven with…'_ Pearl thought, raising an eyebrow at Steven's puppy dog eyes before sighing in resignation.

"Fine. Steven can come with us." She said, handing him the odd stone statuette. "Here. Remember Steven, we are entrusting you with the most crucial thing needed for this."

"This is perfect! I can use the Cheeseburger Backpack for this mission!" Steven whooped and accepted the small statue, his face lighting up when a thought entered his head, "Wait here guys! I remembered that the bag has lots of pockets, I'll go pack us some extra supplies."

The gems nodded and waited on the warp pad as Steven rushed to his bedroom ledge with Naruto and Kurama following him. He started to shove multiple objects into the cheeseburger and the two behind him sweatdropped as they witnessed the boy kneel down and shove a raft, a kite, a first-aid kit, and three sweaters along with many other items.

 _'_ _Just how much space is in that thing?'_ the two wondered.

"Come on, Steven!"

The young Universe hurried his movements even more. He stood up and was about to grab the statuette to put inside the burger when he accidentally stepped on a plushy which squealed out a loud "Oof!" and made Steven giggle. He picked the toy up and held it in front of him, smiling as he started to shake the teal-coloured, dopey-faced, bib-wearing cartoon character.

"Ugh… kid, don't shake me!" the doll complained, encouraging Steven to shake it even more.

"Hahaha! Mr. Queasy!" He laughed.

"Augh, I got a medical condition!" the now named Mr. Queasy stated in its programmed "sickly" voice.

"You're definitely going to come in handy!" the boy grinned, pulling the first-aid kit out of his backpack and replaced it with the stuffed toy.

 **"** **Hm, last time I checked, first-aid kits were more useful than items filled with stuffing…"** Kurama murmured to Naruto. The two smiled at the boy's antics and Naruto put a hand on his shoulder, causing the child to look up at his surrogate older brothers.

"Hey buddy, be careful out there alright? Me and Kurama can't make this one, so we'll need you to keep an eye on them for us." Naruto smirked with a wink and held out a tri-pronged kunai to the curly-haired boy. "Take this. If you're ever in trouble, no matter how little you think the problem is, use this and throw it on the ground. We'll be there straight away."

"I will, I swear!" Steven promised, taking the kunai and putting it in his bag before zipping it up. He slid the burger on and hugged his brothers before jogging to the gems.

The gems took one look at his bag and blinked.

"Whoa, Steven. Did you bring your whole ROOM?" Pearl asked incredulously.

"Just what did you put in there…" Amethyst wondered.

"We've wasted enough time, let's warp." Garnet spoke, turning the warp pad on.

The pad activated, but was not able to start the transportation process due to the chubby boy's belly.

"Suck it up, Steven!" Amethyst laughed out, the half-gem taking a deep breath as he did so. Naruto and Kurama chuckled, waving goodbye to the gems as they were enveloped by the warp stream.

 **"** **Tch. You already put seals on the kid, now you're giving a kunai? How overprotective of you."** The nine-tailed quadruped snickered.

"Hush up, you." The whiskered blonde grumbled, muttering curses under his mask.

* * *

[30 minutes later]

[In The Den]

Naruto sat behind his workbench in the forge, painting designs onto Kurama's armour when he felt a nagging feeling in the back of his mind; as if there was something he was missing. After a few minutes, he had had enough of the annoyance and walked out of the forge. He headed towards Kurama who had transformed into a muscular, human-like, bi-pedal version of his usual form and was using Naruto's dumbbell set.

"Hey, Kurama. Is it just me, or does it feel like there's something wrong?" The fox raised an eyebrow, placing the weight on the ground as he lifted a hand to his chin in thought.

 **"** **Come to think of it… yes."**

"What could it be though? It's been bugging me ever since Steven and the others left for the Sea Spire… what could we be missing?"

The two pondered for five minutes, their eyes widening when a realization hit them.

* * *

[Mini-Flashback]

 _"_ _Come on, Steven!"_

 _The young Universe hurried his movements even more. He stood up and was about to grab the statuette to put inside the burger when he accidentally stepped on a plushy which squealed out a loud "Oof!" and made Steven giggle. He picked the toy up and held it in front of him, smiling as he started to shake the teal-coloured, dopey-faced, bib-wearing cartoon character…_

* * *

 _"_ … _I swear!" Steven promised, taking the kunai and putting it in his bag before zipping it up. He slid the burger on and hugged his brothers before jogging to the gems. "See ya later!"_

[Mini-Flashback End]

* * *

"Steven never got around to taking the statue with him!" The two shared panicked expressions, teleporting back to the Crystal Gem Temple. They leaped onto Steven's ledge, picking up the forgotten item. "Here it is! Wait… they said that they needed this to prevent that spire from collapsing!"

The blonde flinched when the four controller's seals on his forearm glowed blue with an orange outline and felt the kunai he gave Steven send him a mental nudge as it imbedded itself into a surface. Quickly placing a hand on the bijuu's head, he transported both of them to the others' location. Once their temporary loss of vision dissipated, they saw the distressed expressions on the quartet's faces.

"Naruto, Kurama! I accidentally left the statue thing at home!" Steven cried out, his worry evident in his voice.

 **"** **We know! We managed to figure it out just before you threw the kunai!"** Kurama yelled back, Naruto showing them the object in his hand. The duo immediately had to pour chakra into their feet when they felt the ground they stood on shake. Pearl's head spun to face them.

"You have to place it on its pedestal, NOW! Otherwise this place is going to collapse!" Naruto nodded in understanding, rushing towards the stone pedestal that had begun emitting a beam of light and shoving the statue back into its place. Everything froze and the six stood still, no one knowing what was going to happen next. The spire shivered as broken bits of it rose from the whirlpool underneath and _very_ slowly started to re-attach themselves to the structure. The water surrounding them warbled, returning back to its position as the spire's circle of protection. Everyone let out a breath they didn't know they were holding, and relaxed their tense forms.

"We did it." Steven grinned.

"Yes we did." Pearl said in relief.

"Now put a shirt on." Garnet deadpanned at Naruto.

* * *

[Later That Day]

[Under The Cherry Tree, 12:02 a.m.]

 **"** **Well?"** Kurama urged on, he and Naruto were standing underneath Pearl's favourite tree again, waiting for the Gems' assessment of Steven.

"…Okay, we'll begin his training. We let him go through with his ideas throughout the mission and half of them worked. The mistakes he made were minor. One was that he placed the raft on the raging water without thinking about what would happen next, but we can sum that up to his inexperience in planning ahead. The other idea was using his Mr. Queasy doll instead of the statue, which we can overlook as he at least made an attempt to fix his mistake." Garnet reported, her voice as stoic as ever. Naruto sighed at the last sentence.

"I guess you can put the blame on me for the second one. I did distract him from the Sea Spire statue by handing him the kunai." The masked shinobi confessed. Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst nodded in acceptance.

"So, how are we gonna go about this?" Amethyst asked, lying on her back while spinning her whip around like a lasso.

"Well, we'll have to think up a schedule for him…" Pearl thought aloud, she turned to Naruto who was leaning against the tree's trunk and had his arms crossed in front of his bare chest. "…you and Kurama are still up for taking care of his physical conditioning right?"

"Yeah. Is it fine if you guys create the Steven's training regime by yourselves? We'll be fine with whatever time you guys set us up with. We just have something to do right now. Plus, we've never really been all that good with this preparing stuff." Naruto pushed off of the tree's trunk and the quadruped beside him stood up when Pearl gave them an "Okay", the two disappearing in two twisters of fire. One golden yellow and one red.

* * *

[With Naruto and Kurama]

[The Den, Self-Repairing Training Room]

 **"** **Ready?"**

"Hm!"

Naruto stood at the centre of a large, circular, sealing matrix. He began to perform hundreds of hand signs accurately at lightning speed, Kurama keeping the amount of chakra he used balanced. The shinobi was half-way through the set of a thousand hand signs when the symbols in the array started to glow and a beam of light shot up into the infinite room's sky, one half of the light was pure white while the other was a sinister black. A few seconds later, Naruto's hand ended in the sign for "dragon" and the kanji for "Kami" appeared in black on the white half of the light stream while "Shinigami" appeared in white on the black half. A bolt of grey lightning hit the array's location, creating a powerful explosion, kicking up large quantities of dust and dug up boulders of earth. An unharmed blonde and fox walked out of the circle, the gem blowing the dust away with a weak wind jutsu, revealing two figures. One was a beautiful, pale woman with platinum hair and golden eyes. She was wearing a pure-white kimono and stood where the while half of the beam once glowed. The other was a red-eyed man with long, black, hair. He had purple skin and was wearing a black and red kimono. The two observed their surroundings, their eyes widening when the sight of the bowing off-worlders caught their eyes.

"Ah, it is nice to see you two again. Due to your summoning of us both, it is safe to assume that you have fixed the problems in the jutsu?"

"Yes Kami-sama." Naruto answered. "We have done as you told us and have changed the theory to fit with your suggestions."

The woman, now known as Kami, giggled at how the usually-disrespectful jinchūriki and bijuu were being respectful in their presence, "Now Naruto-kun, Kurama-kun, what did I say about formalities?"

 **"** … **Not to be formal in your presence?"** Kurama answered for them both as they chuckled sheepishly. The female smiled at his answer, their attention turning to the black-haired male when he spoke.

 **"** **All joking aside, you wanted us to summon** _ **those**_ **two, right?"** He grunted out.

"Yes, Shinigami-sama."

 **"** **Very well. Here."** Shinigami and Kami each twirled a hand, willing two souls to rise. **"If that is all, we shall take our leave. Do not forget that Wednesday is poker night with Jashin and the** _ **others**_ **."**

The omnipresent beings disappeared into the wind, the siblings staring at the patches of grass where they had been standing on.

"W-Where are we?" The question broke the two out of their dazes and they faced the risen souls.

"My name is Naruto and this is Kurama. We have a lot to talk about."

* * *

[2:41 a.m.]

It had been around about two hours since they had spoken with the souls and willed them to dissipate. The kitsune decided to take a nap while the blonde chose to train.

Naruto now wore a pair of grey sweatpants, his dog tags and his face mask. He held a dark-blue katana out, his eyes closed in concentration. He stood still and used his other senses to feel that his hidden clones were slowly revealing themselves and were beginning their assault. He froze for a second and, without opening his eyes, ducked. After narrowly dodging the slice that would've separated his head from his neck, he kicked the clone in the chest, making it disappear in smoke. The blonde quickly put his foot back down and moved his head slightly to the side, avoiding another slash. He held the sword in his left hand, unsealing a kunai from his right palm and threw it into the opposing clone's chest. His head snapped to his left and he jumped back to avoid a stab to the side of his stomach, using his sword to decapitate his unassuming copy. His ears twitched when thousands of poofs reached them, alerting him that all of his clones had decided to come out. For the next thirty minutes, he continued to dodge and poof all the clones that came at him; his bare feet not making a single sound on the field nor were they disturbing a single blade of grass. Finally, he took the final clone out with a thrust through the heart and opened his eyes, not having a single scratch on him. The katana vanished into flecks of light which were blown away by a gust of wind. Naruto rolled his neck, smirking when he heard his joints let out many satisfying pops and continued to stretch the rest of his limbs.

 **"** **You done?"** The masked ninja stopped his stretching and raised an eyebrow at the now-awake Kurama.

"Yeah."

 **"** **Good, because we need to talk. I've been thinking-"**

"YOU have been thinking? This can't be good." Naruto joked, snickering at his sibling's glare.

 **"** **Ha, ha. Now, as I was saying, I've been thinking about those "Homeworld Gems" and the impact they will have on this world."**

Naruto stopped his snickering and his face grew serious, his warm, blue orbs transforming into ice-cold ones once more.

"Yes, I have a feeling they will become a major nuisance in the future."

Kurama nodded in agreement, **"After thousands of years, they are restarting activity on this planet again. Whatever it is that has got them interested in Earth, it can't be good."**

Naruto sighed, "As much as I hate to say it, it is just like what we told the gems on the night we convinced them about Steven's training. No matter how hard we try to prevent them from doing so, they will get to this planet; one way or another. We may not know _exactly_ why they sent that Red Eye here, but we definitely know one thing. That was only the beginning."


	7. Chapter 7

**Yo, Crazy7634 here! Sooo, I know that this chapter is incredibly late (heheh, as usual eh?), but I can explain. First of all, my school year's ending, so things had begun to get hectic as the teachers tried to get everything done before the end of their quota. Second, I had writers block. Yeah, bad thing to have when your update schedule is like mine. Third, TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! Yeah, I had been planning on putting this up around two days back, but early parties kinda got to my head and I may or may not have forgotten. Thank you to those who have followed, favourited and reviewed this story. Now, because this chapter was late and that it's December 6th, I have made this chapter super long. The total amount of words on this chapter (not including this author's note and the disclaimer) is... ready? A WHOPPING 10,504! You guys better be happy, and as usual, if you see any mistakes or know of any ways that I could improve this story/chapter, feel free to tell me. Whether by private message or review. Have fun! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything, especially Naruto and Steven Universe.**

* * *

Chapter 7 – Secrets

[Outside of the Crystal Gem Temple]

[With Garnet and Amethyst, 1:12 p.m.]

A square-haired lady watched over the figures playing on the beach from her perch on the house's porch, a white-haired woman stood at her side. They had small smiles on their faces as they shook their heads in mirth at the antics of the three "children" below. A curly-haired child stood atop a large nine-tailed fox's head as it chased after a tall, blonde-haired man. The three ran barefoot on the sand, throwing paint balloons and laughing at each other's paint-covered forms.

"Hmph, I thought that you would be down there fooling around with them." The sunglass-wearing woman smiled as she supervised the tomfoolery happening beneath them.

"Are you kidding me? I know what's to come once they're done with their role-playing. I don't want to take one of those things…" the shorter female gave the sunglass-wearing woman an incredulous look, muttering the last sentence when she was reminded of her horrible first-hand experience…

"Will you at least help me with handling them?"

"Eh… why not? I got nothing better to do. Would probably be fun." the two grew small grins on their faces when one of the figures got hit on the face with a balloon.

* * *

[With The "Children"]

 **"Gahahaha! FEEL OUR RIGHTEOUS FURY!"**

"NO, PLEASE!"

Naruto "tripped" on a hidden rock and fell in front of many full, open, paint tins. He was currently wearing a pure black shirt and dark-blue cargo shorts along with his usual mask and dog tags. He rolled over so that his front was facing the two figures towering over him and "cowered in fear" as he continued to "plead" for mercy; a grin was underneath his mask and he snickered as he did so.

"You are in trouble for stealing mine and Kurama's bacon from this morning. How does the older brother plead?" Steven giggled. He gestured for Kurama's tails, which were holding a very large paint balloon, to lift the object over the blonde's head.

"Please, sire! It was not me. It was them!" Naruto said dramatically, eye-smiling as he pointed to the Gems who were watching over them and smirked when he heard snorts of amusement. "I plead innocence!"

"The King has listened whatever you said and finds you… GUILTY!" The short boy yelled, pointing at his gem brother's head. "Sir Kurama, choose his punishment!"

Said fox grinned manically, **"By the order of Lord Steven Quartz Universe, you are hereby sentenced to… Death by "Sibling Dogpile"!"**

Once he finished his sentence, Steven's fox older brother smashed the paint balloon onto Naruto's head and followed through with a belly flop onto the orange shinobi. The ninja guffawed out a "Nooo!" as Steven and Kurama along with three shadow clones of the fox dogpiled on top of him, causing the stack of paint cans behind him to topple over and spill their contents onto the messy trio. Garnet sighed, deciding that they had had enough fun, she started to walk down the stairs to break the news to the brothers. The sunglass-wearing Gem glanced at Amethyst, who nodded at her after summoning two whips, and spoke.

"Alright you three, that's enough fun with paint for the day. Now, due to your current situations, you know what time it is. Don't you?" She sighed at their clueless smiles, not looking forward to their reactions to her next sentence. "…It's time for you to take a bath."

The three froze and their grins disappeared, looks of sheer horror replaced their joyful faces as their minds processed what Garnet had said. A few seconds later, they snapped out of their daze, and quickly got up to their feet, dashing away as fast as possible into the direction of Beach City. Naruto flinched as his sixth-sense for danger acted up, he leaped to the side and looked back, happy that he had done so as he saw a whip coil on itself where his legs would have been if he had not jumped. Unfortunately, Steven was not so lucky and tripped as Amethyst had managed to stop him using her second whip before wrapping the whip that failed to capture Naruto around Steven's legs. The blonde skidded to a stop, not wanting to leave a brother behind.

"STEVEN!" He cried wanting to run to the boy to help him get away from the horrors known as baths. Kurama managed to drift to his side and kept the ninja from going back using his tails, both sending worried gazes to the fallen half-gem.

"No, don't. GO! SAVE YOURSELVES!" The chubby boy yelled as the whip dragged him back to the house. The blonde reluctantly forced himself to hold still and the bijuu released him at feeling his struggles lessen. Naruto sent a devastated look at the drag-marks imprinted onto the sand, not paying attention to anything else but where Steven had once been. Kurama's ears twitched, his eyes widened and he shoved the paralyzed Naruto away.

 **"MOVE!"** He yelled, tilting his head upwards and saw Garnet about to grab him with her summoned gauntlets. **"Ah, damn it…"**

He grunted when she held him at his sides and wrestled him up into the air, intending to bring him back to the house. The fox squirmed in her grasp, attempting to escape the grip that restrained him. After a few tries, he looked at his younger brother who watched his struggling from his position on the sand.

 **"Naruto, snap out of it already! Me and Steven will be fine, go take care of yourself."** Garnet hurried quickly to the direction of the house, rushing in case the fox somehow managed to wriggle himself out of her grasp or if the masked gem decided to help him escape. As she was about to leap away, the bijuu managed to snap the blonde back into the real world. **"RUN, NOW!"**

The Uzumaki shook his head, his mind back to focusing on the problem at hand. He hopped back onto his feet, running away while pouring chakra into his legs, causing him to leave a large cloud of sand in his wake. For three minutes, he ran towards Beach City, stopping just before he went completely past Beach City's "Sea ya later!" sign. He frantically twisted his head in all directions, checking if anyone had been following him, letting out a breath of relief when he saw no one and used Hiraishin to get to The Den.

* * *

[The Den]

The teleportation's bright light disappeared, revealing Naruto's orange-covered form sprawled out on the cold, cave floor. He kept still for a minute before flipping himself over to his back, letting out a sigh as he relaxed.

"I will never take one of those nightmares they call "baths" without a fight…" He said softly, his eyes closed and a calm smile on his face.

"Oh, really? Well I guess it's good that we prepared for one then."

 _'Gah, Damn it!'_ Naruto's eyes snapped open, his lax posture was now an alert one. He jumped to his feet, and hopped to the side, barely dodging the dark purple whips that had been aimed for his legs and torso. He twisted his body to face his assailants and flipped backwards to avoid the gauntlets that were about to capture him in their grip, skidding as he landed with his feet on the ground. Naruto gave a nervous smile as he kept his sight on the stoic-faced Garnet cracking her knuckles and the smirking Amethyst tightening her grip on the two whips in her hands.

"Uh… can't we just talk about this?" the blue-eyed man _really_ didn't want to take a bath. He never did know why, maybe it had something to do with his mindscape's previous sewer appearance? He never did like that look, it always reminded him of when he was a child. Back then, if he didn't go into the mindscape willingly, then he must've been harmed in the physical world quite harshly to have had his consciousness be forced to retreat deep into the recesses of his mind. He pulled his head out of his thoughts and flinched when he saw the two in front of him twitch. Slowly and discreetly, he made chakra flow through his legs once more, his feet ready to take him as far as possible if the need arose. Tense seconds ticked by, the jinchūriki's panicked eyes kept switching from Garnet to Amethyst and back again. The skeptical Uzumaki made his form look as if it was getting lax, but once he did so, the white-haired gem in front of him instantly spun her whips at him in an attempt to catch the paint-covered male while he seemed to be off guard. Naruto hastily pushed off of the ground using his left foot and kept it airborne as he spun on his other one. The weapons passed him harmlessly and hit the air with a loud cracking sound before recoiling back to Amethyst. He stomped his airborne foot onto the Den's concrete floor to break his body's torque and pivoted to the left, avoiding a grab from Garnet. With what the two wanted his capture for, his brain took the situation seriously and slowly changed his mentality to combat mode. Naruto's pupils dilated from warm cerulean into ice-cold blue, rapidly moving from side to side in order to keep watch on both attackers.

 _'I will not take one of those… baths"_ He thought in disgust, _"Hmm, let's see… they've secured my left and right, which means the only way I can go is forward, back, up or down. If I jump, Amethyst would probably use her whips again and Garnet would be ready to grab me should I dodge. Backwards… oh, there's a wall there. I guess that's out. Downwards is out as well unless my aim was to reveal my ability to use ninjutsu. Heh, with those out for the count, I guess the only way to go is forwards!'_

Just as he made up his mind, the three-eyed gem and her whip-wielding accomplice moved to tackle him into the ground. The shinobi swiftly crouched down and placed a palm against the hard floor before rolling forwards, evading their advance.

"Stop being such a baby. It's just a bath, take it like a man!" the tank-top wearing gem cried out at the back of the kneeling young man, stomping her foot on the spot where he had just been, a vein on each of Garnet and Amethyst's foreheads throbbed in their frustration.

"I am sorry Garnet, Amethyst. But if I have to take a bath to be a man, then I prefer to stay as a baby." His head curled upwards slightly from his position as he smirked from underneath his mask, he glanced back slightly and stared at the spot where his palm had been laid flat before his roll.

 _'Kai'_

With that one word, a small, invisible sealing matrix beneath Amethyst's foot glowed and made itself known, causing the figures above it to look down and inspect the shining symbols curiously. The distracted duo jumped slightly in surprise when the seal suddenly flashed even brighter before releasing chains made of blue energy, the restraints wrapping around their bodies. Garnet tried to squirm her way out and found herself unable to do so. She tested her limbs individually and found that they were immovable. Seeing that Garnet, one of the strongest gems she knew, couldn't even move the constrictions encasing them by a single centimetre, Amethyst started to panic and squirm in an attempt to escape to no avail. The ninja's electric-blue eyes switched back to warm cerulean when his warfare mindset dissipated and was replaced with his usual childish nature.

"Heh, good luck trying to get out of those! Now, if you excuse me, I will be going elsewhere!" The blonde cackled evilly as he walked to the Den entrance, turning back once more to the captured gems. "Those will last for a couple of hours, I guess won't be able to come after me in a _long_ while!"

Naruto opened the massive cavern's doorway and spun around on the balls of his feet. He was about to simply waltz out of the doorway when he was halted by a familiar sensation. A guttural sound reverberated in his throat as a finger scratched his covered cheek, and in an instant his tense posture turned lax. Through his half-lidded eyes, he managed to turn his gaze from the end of the entrance tunnel to the one causing this abrupt interruption of his departure.

 _'Of course it was her…'_

"Pearl!" the gems cried out in relief at seeing their third female member while the gem in question just sighed. Naruto plopped down onto the ground, Pearl now running a hand through his hair to calm him.

 _'How did she know what was going on? She was supposed to be out on a solo mission…'_ The blonde wondered until he saw his two brothers sitting by the special Hiraishin kunai connected to the Crystal Gem Temple, furiously shaking themselves as they tried to get rid of the small amount of water that was making their hair/fur wet. _'*sigh* Right. I forgot. Those two wouldn't take a shower by themselves, Pearl probably got back in time to see the two restrained and covered in paint somewhere in the house when Garnet and Amethyst went after me.'_

"Honestly, can't I leave you guys alone without having to come back and clear up a messy situation?" Pearl sighed, turning to the shinobi who was currently putty in her hands and stopped her ministrations. "Now come on you. Regardless of your hatred towards baths, you definitely need one. I'm surprised that the paint is still wet after all this time, but it is best that you wash it off before it dries and hardens."

"But Pearrrrrl…"

"No buts Naruto."

The whiskered gem stared at the peach-haired gem with the same expression as a kicked puppy. Pearl flinched at the enlarging azure orbs that started to pierce through her willpower, her resolve started to crack until she shook her head to clear the doubts that had formed in her mind once she had realized what was happening.

"Come on you big baby." She breathed out in slight exasperation. The pale woman grabbed the back of his now half-orange black shirt. She dragged the man over to the Hiraishin kunai nearby and teleported them both back into the Crystal Gem Temple with Steven and Kurama following after them. After a three-hour battle, Pearl managed to shove the stubborn ex-Konoha resident into the bathroom; not letting him out until he had taken a bath. Unfortunately, they had forgotten one very important thing when they left the Den.

"Uhh… Guys? Hellooo!" Amethyst yelled, still wrapped in Naruto's chakra chains. Garnet just sighed and stayed quiet while her fellow gem kept crying out complaints at the metal weapon hung on the wall, as if it had the ability to transmit vocal messages like how it transported people. "Aww, COME ON!"

* * *

[Crystal Gem Statue Hand]

[2:18 a.m.]

Naruto sighed, relaxing as he laid against the cold, crystal warp pad and was staring once more at two photos in his hands. The same ones he had been gazing at two years ago. A cool gust of wind blew past the washing machines close by and went on his face, causing his shoulder-length, sun-kissed hair to cover his face; filling his nostrils with the scent of the shampoo he had used eight hours ago when his "handler" forced him to wash the paint off. Naruto grunted as he stood up. His joints, which had not been used for a few hours, creaked with every movement. He walked over to the edge of the stone hand, settling back down on the space between its pointer finger and thumb, facing the sea. He smiled when a bright light flashed behind him and felt a very familiar presence make itself known.

"So this is where you went off to. I must admit, I was quite confused when Kurama said that you weren't at the Den." Pearl smirked, making her way towards the unmasked male.

"Heh, you know, I'm getting a sense of Déjà vu right now." He chuckled out, his eyes still focused on the photographs in his hands. The ballerina-like gem sat down next to him, curiously peeking at the pictures he was looking at with melancholy.

"So, who are those people?" She asked, resting her head on his shoulder. A smile appeared on Naruto's face and there was a twinkle of happiness in his eyes. He placed Team 7's portrait over the one depicting the Konoha Genin Teams.

"This one is of me, my friends and our teacher years ago. We had just passed our initiation test and took a photo to commemorate the event."

"Initiation test?" Pearl curiously asked. "What was it for?"

Naruto stopped and debated in his mind whether to tell her or not. A few minutes later he spoke up.

"You remember back when me and Kurama were convincing you three to train Steven, we revealed that wars were quite common in our old home and countries would train children into hardened soldiers at a young age?" Pearl nodded. "Well, there was this ranking system going on where we were from and there would always be some kind of test to see if you were deserved to get ranked up. From lowest to highest, it would go from academy student, genin, chūnin, tokubetsu jōnin, jōnin and Kage. Academy student is pretty much self-explanatory, they're children from around the age of 6-15 years old, still learning how to throw a kunai properly at the least. Genin is when an academy student successfully graduates and are given their forehead protectors which have our home's symbol to show that they are a soldier of our nation. They are considered the greenhorns and are placed in teams to higher their survival rate. They are not allowed to leave Konoha without their supervisor, which is always someone whose rank is at least at jōnin. Chūnin is when you pass this difficult ranking exam, the challenges in which differs and depends on the location it is held in-"

Naruto paused when he saw Pearl's inquiring look. "Our old home was called the Elemental Nations. It is called this because while there were definitely many countries, five of them stood out the most as they held the most power and had the strongest military forces. Their names were Iwagakure, Kirigakure, Kumogakure, Sunagakure and finally Konohagakure; the one me and Kurama lived in. Anyway, the Chūnin Exams would be held at a different nation each year and if you managed to pass, your rank gets higher and you get a flak jacket as proof… well I guess you guys would call it some kind of armoured vest. You're still treated kind of like a genin by those ranked higher than you but at least it shows that you're getting somewhere. Jōnin is, again, when you have to pass a specific test. But this time it is set by the leader of your country. This rank is the second highest rank you can get, with Kage being the first. It basically means that you are an experienced fighter and should not trifled with. They are also given the job to teach the genin about our way of life. The tokubetsu version of this rank means that you are skilled enough in an art that it can get you recognized as a jōnin level, but you would still need either gain a lot more field experience or more mastery in other abilities before you can be an official jōnin. Now, Kage? That is the highest rank that anyone could get. This rank is reserved for the leader of the country. To be able to qualify for this rank, you would have to be very skilled, have had lots of experience in the battlefield and, most importantly, are able to prove to the previous leader that you have the resolve to protect the nation with your life. Every decision you make as a Kage affects your country as a whole."

"Wow. What rank were you?"

"I was only genin when I left Konohagakure. I might have had a chance at becoming chūnin should I have completed the exams, but unfortunately a traitor to Konoha decided to instigate a war against us during it."

This made Pearl's eyes widen in shock. "You were part of a war?!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, sweatdropping as he turned his head back towards the sea to avoid the look Pearl gave him. _'Maybe I gave out a little too much information…'_

"Well… yeah. Didn't kill anyone though, I just helped fight in it. After all, it's what I was raised to do. There were some casualties of course, but nothing too serious happened." He forcing a slight smile, managing to hide the pain he felt when sadness pierced his heart at being reminded of the Sandaime Hokage's death.

"Okay… so from what I have heard, am I correct in assuming that these friends of yours are your teammates, with the masked man being your supervisor?" The pixie-cut gem asked.

"Yes. If it weren't for that system, most of us genin would not have survived our first few minutes outside the safety of our country's walls."

Pearl hmmed in thought and stared at the Team 7 portrait again. Naruto was easy to identify with his sun-kissed yellow hair. He was much younger than he was now. The twenty-three year old was wearing a neon-orange jumpsuit at the time the photo was taken, he had an annoyed expression on his face and was scowling at a black-haired boy whose hair looked similar to that of a duck's butt. The pale boy in question was wearing a high-collared, dark-blue shirt and was giving the camera an intense glare. In between the two was a pink-haired girl who had a cheerful look on her face, she was wearing a red dress which seemed to have white circles at the sides of the short sleeves and looked to be oblivious to the animosity her two male teammates had. Behind the three was a tall silver-haired man who gave the camera an eye-smile. He wore his forehead protector slanted so that it hid his right eye, had a lazy stance and odd gravity-defying hair. There was an armoured vest worn over his chest and was covering the bottom half of his face with a cloth mask.

 _'Well, now I know where he got the mask idea from…'_ She smirked in her head. Naruto smiled melancholically as he held the photo out for Pearl to examine.

"Our team was called Team 7 or Team Kakashi. The black-haired boy's name is Sasuke Uchiha, the girl is Sakura Haruno and the man is Kakashi Hatake. When we first had to work together, we didn't get along too well; it's actually quite obviously shown. But, as we began to spend more time with each other during training and doing jobs assigned to us inside the village, we started to become closer. Before I left Konohagakure, our team was so close that we even thought of each other as family." Naruto chuckled hollowly at the bittersweet memories. "Yet, it seems that things were not meant to be and fate didn't really favour us all that much…"

Pearl looked at him worriedly and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "What happened?"

Naruto sighed. "During the exams, the traitor I told you about earlier had infiltrated the testing area. Let's just say that he did something that caused our little family to have a falling-out."

Ten minutes of silence happened, the two just sitting under the moonlight, enjoying each other's company. A small, serene smile made its way onto Naruto's face. The jinchūriki grunted slightly when stretched his arms and spine out before laying his back against the stone hand's palm. The woman next to him raised an eyebrow in amusement before doing the same.

She turned to the blonde with a raised eyebrow. "Hmm, this is the first time you have ever said so much about your past…"

"Well, while we all have our secrets, I thought that I should start showing mine. After all, you guys have already shown me quite a lot about yourselves. It's time I start returning the favour." He said, sending a grin at her direction.

The pixie-cut woman blinked in surprise before giving him a small, gentle smile in return. "Well that's good, after all these years we still don't know that much about you. So, what about that other picture? Who are the ones in there?"

Naruto perked up, twisting his head to face the woman beside him and passed the image to her.

"Ah, now those guys are the other genin teams, they took the Chūnin Exams along with us. In fact, if it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here right now." The jinchūriki chuckled slightly at her disbelieving look, nodding to confirm that she had indeed heard correctly. "Yeah, the traitor focused on my team specifically. But unfortunately for him, Konoha ninja stick together. No matter how important the objective is, even if it was crucial for our country during a war, it is better to have failed the mission with everyone surviving rather than succeed in completing it with most of the squad dead. If it weren't for this lesson being drilled into our minds during the academy…"

Pearl's eyes slid back to the thin object in her hand. She noted that he had said "Konoha _ninja_ " and held the photo up so that it was in the middle of them both. "So, what were their names?"

Naruto smirked, pointing at each person as he said their name. "This man is Asuma Sarutobi, he is the leader of Team 10 which consists of Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara. They were a capture and interrogation squad. The woman is Kurenai Yuuhi, she leads Team 8. Her team has Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. They were being trained to be tracking specialists. The one with the green spandex is Maito Gai, he teaches Team 9. In it is Neji Hyuga, Tenten Higurashi and Rock Lee. They're all close-quarter fighters."

Pearl brought a finger to her chin in thought. "Hmm, well, you've said what the other teams were being trained in for the future. What about Team 7?"

"Team 7? We were a jack-of-all-trades, heavy-assault squad. Basically, we were a squad of those soldiers that you would send to the front lines first when in search for a quick and easy victory. Kakashi-sensei did have quite a hard time dealing with us when our team was first formed, our distrust towards each other affected our teamwork heavily. But regardless, we did have our fun times during the months before we saw each other as family. Like this one time, we had had enough of our teacher's tardiness and set up a prank for him when he arrived. Needless to say, the jōnin meeting our chicken-like sensei had after our training session wasn't all that enjoyable for him that day."

Naruto chuckled at the memories while Pearl giggled with him. "Heheh, well that certainly would have been a sight to see… did anything else happen?"

The blonde beside her nearly split his face with the impossibly-sized grin he grew after hearing her sentence. "Oh, you have no idea! This one time, we wanted to see what was under his mask…"

* * *

[The Den]

[Self-Regenerating Training Room, 9:45 a.m.]

 **"...so far, we've done a pretty good job at keeping his suspicions away from Beach City. How is negotiating with those two coming along?"**

"Pretty good. At least Kami and Shinigami gave us that summoning circle to bring those spirits here without needing to summon them to do it for us. Speaking of spirits, they haven't changed their decision about what they want us to do in exchange for their help; but I'm sure that we can do what they have in mind. The only problem is what are we supposed to tell the Crystal Gems? We'll be gone for quite a while, chakra-enhanced speed or not."

 **"I'm sure that we can think of something. For now, let's just focus on Rīfu. His activity has grown the most at this month than it has in the past years. He's getting frustrated at our constant evasions from capture. He has become so paranoid about our whereabouts that if we aren't careful and make one tiny slip-up, then he will find out about Beach City; not to mention Steven. Rīfu will exploit anything that will seem as a weakness to us and won't hesitate to attack those who we are close to. While Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst will be fine against his soldiers with their battle experience and regeneration abilities, Steven is half-human. We don't know what would happen should he get any serious damage, and I don't want to test it out."** Kurama sighed, Uragirimono really was a pain in the butt. **"While I'm not saying that we should kill him, don't you think the way we are planning to deal with him is not only taking way too long but is also a bit too much?"**

It was Naruto's turn to sigh. He was on his feet, slouched over a map that pinpointed the places that Rīfu's contacts had caught him and Kurama "sneaking" around. He placed a hand on the table he had created for the map's placement and ran his other hand through his hair.

"I must admit that it is a lot of effort for one civilian, but remember, he was like a brother to us all those years ago. This could be the way to bring him out of the pit of darkness he has fallen into and return him to his old self. I've lost a brother before, I don't want to go through that again…" He muttered, his eyes spinning into blood-red ones while the tomoes inside spun lazily before the orbs transformed back to their usual crystalline blue.

 **"*sigh* Alright, I see your point. Enough about Rīfu, how is Steven's training going?"**

"He's doing alright. Turns out that he can actually channel the mixture of chakra and gem energy he has inside him. It isn't good enough for elemental jutsus, but he should be able to use the basic genin moves like bunshin and, with enough time, water-walking. Kid's been doing well on tree-walking, not so good on tree hopping though." Naruto chuckled as he remembered young Steven's face-plants. The reactions the other gems had to his ability to walk on walls were quite amusing as well. "Let's go. Steven should be awake by now and the others should be out of the temple."

The two gave one last glance at the map before Naruto sealed it and the table underneath it, the duo disappearing in twisters of gold and red flame.

* * *

[Crystal Gem Temple]

"…You know, this seemed like a better idea when we first thought of it." Pearl blinked, feeling slightly nauseous at the sight of the unhealthy "breakfast". Even Amethyst tried hard not to gag at it.

"I think we should just eat pizza." The white-haired gem suggested, tearing her eyes away from the plate.

"Mm!" Garnet nodded in agreement with Pearl and Steven. The four members of the Crystal Gems flinched when spinning fire caught their eyes, all sighing in relief when the blaze dissipated and revealed Naruto and Kurama.

"*Whew* Dang it, you two! Don't do that." Pearl placed a hand on her chest, trying to calm down after the fright they had given her. A few minutes later, she managed to regain her composure and stared at the two charred, ash-covered spots on the ground. "Also, could you please choose an element that won't damage or create a mess inside the house? If you keep using fire, the house will burn down at some point in time due to your method of transportation."

Naruto and Kurama had the decency to look a bit guilty at what they had inadvertently done when the "breakfast" that the others had created appeared in their peripheral vision.

 **"What is that thing?"** The quartet turned back to the pancake stack and shivered slightly in fear, the memory of the giant food-monster from earlier affecting their view on the food.

"Well it was supposed to be breakfast for all of us, but... we just lost our appetites for the thing."

Naruto's eyebrows rose in interest.

"We'd be happy to take that off of your hands if you aren't going to eat it."

"Please do."

Kurama coated the end of a tail with wind chakra and cut the meal cleanly in half. Using the same tail, he picked up the plate and brought it to him and Naruto. The others cringed when the brothers each took a bite out of their halves without vomiting.

 _'How are they able to eat that monstrosity?'_ was the thought that went through their minds. The siblings smacked their lips as they finished the last bite of their shares, patting their full stomachs in satisfaction.

"O-Okay, so what are you guys doing here? Usually, you'd be in the Den doing something secretive." Amethyst asked, swallowing the bile that had begun to escape her stomach. Naruto walked over to Steven and ruffled the child's hair.

"It's time for Steven's training again." He smirked.

Steven flinched and looked up at his brother. "We're not going to practice tree-jumping again, are we?"

The young boy huddled himself in a corner with a rain cloud above his head when Naruto nodded, an evil twinkle in both his and Kurama's eyes.

 **"Let's go kid!"** The red fox cackled evilly as the two ushered the still-depressed boy outside, the female Crystal Gems sweatdropping at the sight; praying for the boy's health and sanity.

* * *

[Two Hours Later]

[Outside of Crystal Gem Temple]

"COME ON STEVEN, YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!"

"I'm TRYING!" The curly-haired Universe yelled back, running as fast as he could on the water while dodging a pouncing Kurama and multiple water bullets at the same time. To the boy's dismay, the off-worlders had prepared a… little assault course beforehand. It consisted of small hoops that he HAD to jump through (lest he got a fireball instead of a water bullet shot at him) and a path that had devices which shot disks at any sign of movement placed on the side-lines. There were also other ridiculous puzzles such as mini-mazes and targets placed in the horror trap before ending with a long platform. It was set up with large, swinging, yoga balls on its path and springing, cylindrical, boxing-bags that shot out of the ground at random moments. Needless to say, going through all these obstacles did not give the young boy any form of happiness at all.

 **"C'mon kiddo, you can do it! One more run through the platform and you're done. Remember, we've got something to give you should you finish this exercise!"**

At the mention of his mystery prize, the tired boy perked up and got his second wind. Dashing straight through an opening in the yoga balls' circuit and evading the jumping bags, he stood triumphantly at the beach with his arms up in the air. He was covered in a mixture of sweat and seawater, a huge grin on his face at his accomplishment. Steven managed to stay upright for a few minutes, before his fatigue caught up to him and he fell flat on his face.

"Ow…" The child tried to push himself up, his arms shaking in effort, but was only able to flip himself onto his back. He glared at his older brothers who stood above him, it was obvious that they were amused at his pain. "I don't know why the others still allow you to do this. I always return to the house nearly half-dead after every single training session with you guys."

"Aww… if that's how you feel about us little bro, then I guess that you don't want this custom-made board eh?" Naruto grinned behind his mask, unsealing a pink and gold hoverboard from his tattooed arm and held it out for the boy to see. Steven's pupils were replaced with stars once again as he stood up, his energy tanks refilled by his excitement.

"NO WAY! Is that really for me?" Steven's grin nearly broke his face clean in half when he saw them nod. He immediately pounced on the two, his momentum throwing all three into the sand as he hugged them as tightly as he could. "THANK YOU!"

 **"Heheh. We know that you've always wanted one ever since you saw Naruto's. Plus, you still can't move as fast as the gems can and to be honest, we don't know if you actually can. After all, you are half human. So, to help you with your manoeuvrability during escapes or emergencies, here ya go."** The fox stood up, shaking the sand out of his fur while Naruto patted his clothes clean of the small particles, handing the boy his gift. Steven held it in front of him, his starry eyes glowing in amazement at the sight of it. The board was made in a surfboard-like shape. It was pure pink with two gold lines on the centre, it was long enough to carry two people and had two thrusters attached to the back. The youngest male hugged the board to his frame, his eyes closed in delight and his grin somehow grew even more.

"Though here's the catch kid. You'll have to practice integrating the board into battles before we'll let you use it in actual fights. Which means, it's also being added to your training." The Universe nodded absentmindedly, still embracing the form of transportation.

 **"Okay. We were originally planning on starting your hoverboard training today; but considering how you felt just a few minutes earlier, we might have to delay that till until a few days later. When you're fully energized-"**

"NO! I'm perfectly fine. Let's go!" Steven interrupted, placing the object on the ground and hopped on it. The half-gem had not thought of the repercussions of his actions and fell on the sand as he accidentally urged the hoverboard to move forward at high speeds.

 _ **"He could've at least waited for us to give him instructions…"**_

 _"Yeah."_

* * *

[A Week Later]

[Under The Cherry Tree, 11:25 p.m.]

Naruto was once again laying with his head on Pearl's lap, low purrs rumbled in his throat as she ran a hand through his scalp. The peach-haired gem smiled gently down at the male as he relaxed in her presence. A cheeky idea came into her head and she stopped her ministrations, causing the Uzumaki's previously closed eyes to slowly start opening. But before they could, she quickly scratched his uncovered cheek. Naruto's eyes snapped open in surprise before closing again in bliss. Pearl giggled as his low purrs increased in volume and his head instinctively leaned into her hand as she fiddled with the sensitive whisker marks on his cheeks. A few minutes later, Pearl couldn't take the adorableness of the blonde's situation and covered her mouth with her hands as an attempt to block out her laughs. Naruto's azure orbs lost their glassy look and he shook his head clear. He looked up at the female beside him, an eyebrow raised and a "Really?" look on his face.

"Was that necessary?" He asked, waiting for the spear-user to calm down.

The ballerina-like gem took a few moments to calm herself and responded after a little while. "Your reaction to that is just so cute. It's like you're really a fox kit as Kurama calls you. Besides, if you didn't like it, then consider it your punishment for a few days ago during the Frybo incident. I swear, your tendency to not wearing shirts is influencing Steven…"

Naruto snickered at the memory of Steven not wearing clothes in public, having forced to use his articles of clothing as a mini-army. "Ahh. You blame me for that? It was the kid's choice, not mine."

"He looks up to you, the fact that his role-model doesn't like to wear specific items of clothing has probably affected his mind in some way which caused his earlier lack of embarrassment to his nudity." Pearl deadpanned.

The gem began to run a hand through Naruto's golden locks again, continuing to do so thirty minutes after he had fallen asleep. She flinched when she heard a loud thud along with an "OW!" from Steven's ledge. "I better go check on him…"

She gently moved Naruto's head off of her lap and stood up as quietly as she could, slowly tiptoeing her way to the exit of the Temple and silently slid out of the door. Regrettably, she had forgotten that her presence was the only thing that kept the twenty-three year old's warped memories of the past away and after a minute Naruto had started to squirm from his position, shouts emanating from his mouth. The door heading into the cherry tree area slid open and Garnet hurried inside when she heard the yells. She rushed in the direction of the tree and was shocked to see a struggling blonde.

"What the…" The square-haired gem muttered. The gauntlets she had summoned before entering disappeared in wisps of light. She cautiously made her way closer to the troubled blonde. The sunglass-wearing woman tried to shake him awake, but no matter how hard she shook his shoulder, he would not wake. "What is going on with him…"

Garnet activated her third eye, intending to look into the future in case there was a timeline that would show her what was making the young man feel so much discomfort in his respite. She knew that the attempt would most likely be as futile as her past tries, but she just had to check. The powerful gem was oblivious to the tendril of red chakra that had attached itself to the blue gem located on the palm of her hand which still held onto Naruto's shoulder. When Garnet used her future-vision, she had not expected the next sequence of incidents proceeding her choice of action.

* * *

[Unknown Area]

The tall gem was on her knees, one hand was flat on the ground to help keep herself steady while the other was clutching onto her head. Garnet blinked behind her shades to clear the bright spots of light that had filled her vision. She stood up and surveyed her surroundings. There was nothing in the background of the area she was in, it was all pitch-black darkness. She took a step forwards and instantly tilted her head down in surprise when she heard a clack. The floor she was standing on was made of grey, stone bricks.

"What is this place?" She muttered to herself before the ground tremored continuously when objects began to materialize around her. Run-down buildings begun to form as they fell down brick after brick from the sky, the moon and stars lit up the area as they spun into existence and Garnet had to close her eyes and focus on steadying herself as trees emerged from below the stone bricks-turned-dirt. After what seemed like hours, the Crystal Gem forced her eyes to open when the shaking had stopped. Her eyes widened in confusion. Garnet now found herself standing in the middle of the entrance-way to an alley located in what seemed to be a slum. Her eyes scanned the mossy bricks and broken windows around her when the sound of flesh hitting flesh along with the sound of a child's cries reached her ears. She spun on the heels of her feet and gasped in shock at what she saw in the end of the alleyway.

"PLEASE STOP! You said you just wanted to give me some food!" Someone cried out as teenagers and adults alike kept beating him into the corner of the dead-end. She couldn't see the person's appearance, but the voice confirmed that it was a male, a young child at that.

"Shut up, DEMON! Beasts like you don't deserve kindness." A brown-haired man growled out. None of the people halting their maltreatment of the child in response to his plea, if anything it only encouraged them to harm him even more. The boy cried silently, trying to fold himself into an even smaller ball, as if doing so was going to make him teleport away from the older civilians. Garnet was frozen on the spot at the sight, a situation such as this was foreign to her. She shook her head out of her daze a few minutes later and the confusion that had previously been in her three eyes converted into pure, unbridled rage. Quickly summoning her gauntlets, she hurriedly made her way towards the scene. A young woman turned to her when the gem's movements caught her eye.

"Ah. You must be here for the fox hunt too, right? Don't worry, the devil-brat should still be healthy enough for you to be able to get a few hits in." The blue-haired female turned her gaze to Garnet's weapons. "Nice. Those will definitely teach the monster a lesson."

The Crystal Gem's fury reached its peak and her anger-filled mind made her punch the human into a wall, the human's collision creating a sizable crater in the structure. The commotion made the others stop and turned to where the sound had come from, only to have jolts of foreboding creep up their spines at the sight of their unconscious comrade imbedded into the worn bricks. They gaped at the imposing gem, utter horror was portrayed in their facial expressions as they stared up at her.

"Leave. NOW." Garnet growled out, all of them immediately following her command, no one questioned her in fear of receiving the same treatment as the woman. The square-haired female huffed in annoyance, her head began to clear as the humans went farther and farther away from the alley. She took a deep breath to calm herself and turned to face the young child. She kneeled down around a meter away from him and confronted the frightened boy. The poor kid looked up to see why the pain had stopped only to bury his head back into his legs in fright, his arms stiffened around the top of his head, acting as a make-shift helmet. Garnet's expression softened at this, he looked to be no older than six years of age and yet he had to endure this kind of treatment.

"Hey, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you." She spoke as gently as she could, not wanting the scare the child even more. Garnet stood still for three minutes, calmly waiting for the youth to calm down. Her patience was not wasted. The youngster tentatively brought his head up slightly, staring curiously at the strange woman before him through his legs and wondered why she hadn't hurt him yet.

"See? I'm not like those… _others_. I just want to help you."

The boy blinked at her and slowly removed his arms from his head. After straightening his bent knees, he slowly stood up on shaky legs, placing a hand against the wall he was up against for support and grunted in pain as he did so. Garnet hurriedly stood up and moved to help the injured kid when her breath hitched in her throat at his appearance. He was barefoot, his shorts were in tatters and there was barely anything left to cover his torso. His arms were covered in bruises, his legs and face were cut up and bleeding. There were also three clean, straight lines on each of his cheeks. But that wasn't what shocked the powerful gem, what caught her eye were two very distinct characteristics that he had. His eyes were a stunning cerulean and his hair, when you disregarded the dirt that coated it, was a bright yellow. Garnet had only seen these two traits on one other person before; the very same person she had been trying to figure out in the past three years.

"N-NARUTO?!" the child version of the blonde flinched at the volume of her yell and looked as if he was about to bolt out of the small area when the once dark and dreary slum was encased in a light-azure flash of light. All the shabby buildings and the half-dirt half-concrete floor disappeared and was replaced by lush trees and grass while the black sky turned into a beautiful pale blue. The moon reconstructed itself into the sun and the few stars changed into fluffy clouds. Garnet examined her new surroundings in awe, flinching when she suddenly remembered who she was standing in front of. The previously-damaged blonde was in a much better shape than before. His wounds were gone and he now wore a black shirt with grey shorts and navy sandals. There was no longer an expression of sheer terror on his face and now had a large, cheerful grin instead. Young Naruto giggled mischievously before sprinting in the opposite direction of Garnet, his form slowly disappearing into wisps of light at every step he took. Garnet noticed that the whole area was dissolving into thin air as well.

"W-What's going on?" She kept spinning around, trying to keep track on what had been disappearing. Soon enough there was nothing left but pure white. "Hello?"

The square-haired female was forced to close her eyes when a blinding glow nearly destroyed her vision and was surprised to see that she was standing in front of Pearl and Naruto when she opened them. Her fellow gem was rubbing the male's cheek soothingly, the look in her sky-coloured orbs portrayed her worry over the mysterious blonde.

"…I'm sorry Kurama, after I heard Steven fall I guess the reaction his subconscious would have to my presence growing farther away slipped from my mind."

" **It is alright. I guess I am to blame as well, I was woken up when the kid's face made a collision with the ground. I should've spoken up and went to check on him instead of you."** The movement of Garnet's foot got Kurama's attention. **"Ah, I see you're finally out of your little journey."**

Pearl tilted her head away from Naruto when she heard the old fox's last sentence. "OH! Garnet. I was concerned when I came back from Steven's room and saw you standing there in a daze. Kurama said that you were just having a little experience with your future vision. Are you alright?"

Garnet nodded silently, twisting her head to the red quadruped. "What was that?"

" **Always straight to the point as usual, eh?"** the Kyuubi sighed. **"To put it simply, when you tried to use your future vision while you were still in contact with Naruto, I altered your power a bit. So instead of looking into his future, I… gave you a glimpse of the past. I take it that from what I showed you, you now understand a bit of why he is so reclusive to others?"**

The Crystal Gem leader could only nod again, staring at Naruto's now serene face. Her respect for the blonde rose now that she had seen the treatment that he had to grow up with. _"How can you still smile after something like that?"_

* * *

[Two Days Later]

[Dining Table, Crystal Gem Temple]

Naruto and Kurama sat at the table having an eating contest with an enormous stack of pies that they got from who knows where. The blonde shoved one last pie into his mouth before triumphantly standing on his chair, pointing at his older brother.

"I WIN!" He gloated, but as he and his older brother tried to jump off of their respective chairs, a stab of pain went through their bloated stomachs, causing them to fall to the ground clutching their massive food-filled bellies.

"Owww…"

 **"Next time either of us suggests to have an eating race of one hundred versions of the same food, promise to hit that brother on the head?"**

"Urgh… promise of a lifetime."

The two laid sprawled on the ground for a few minutes until the pain subsided. The female Crystal Gems peering conspicuously through one of the house's windows made them raise an eyebrow each and they walked towards their direction, their swollen guts somehow returning back to normal as they took one step at a time.

"What are you guys lookin' at?" Naruto asked, his question was answered when he followed their line of sight. They were spying on Steven as he interacted with an unknown girl who seemed to be around the same age as the Universe. The five's eyes trailed the half-gem as he sprinted all the way back to the house. He opened the door and immediately turned around to close it once he entered. He let out a surprised shout when he noticed the five sets of eyes fixated on him.

"GAH! Don't do that you guys!" he breathed out, placing a hand on his chest to calm his rapidly beating heart. "What are you doing standing around there anyway?"

Amethyst raised an eyebrow. "Actually, we wanted to ask why, out of all the available places in Beach City, you wanted to take a bike ride on the _sand_. Who was that girl anyway?"

"Uh- uhm, er…" Steven stuttered out and blushed, failing to come up with a reply that wouldn't shove him into a storm of teasing. "I didn't know you guys were watching… sh-she's just a girl I know, but she doesn't know me though. We-we've never really talked."

Naruto and Kurama's eyes widened at this and mischievous grins grew on their faces.

"So, my little brother has a crush, eeeh?" Naruto teased, purposely drawing out the last word and gave the embarrassed half-gem a noogie.

 **"Gahaha! Who's the lucky lady, brat?"** Kurama guffawed, unable to contain himself from rolling on the floor in his amusement with Naruto joining him a few seconds later.

Steven's blush became a deeper red and he shoved his blonde older brother off of him. "SHUSH! I don't know what the big deal is. So what if I like her? I like everyone."

His comment went straight through Pearl's head and a large smile stretched on her face. "Ohh, this is so exciting! Let's set up a play-date. We'll need to plan out what you guys are going to do, think up of how to ask her… OH, we need to figure out what her favourite food and drinks are!"

"Heh. Yeah, alright! How are we going to do all that?" Amethyst asked, joining in on the fun. Steven clenched his eyes shut and pressed his hands against his ears as tightly as he could, trying to block out all that was said about him and the girl. The kid's face was now so bright red that you would think steam was going to start flowing out of his ears.

"Ignore them Steven. Just go talk to her." Garnet spoke up in her usual, emotionless voice and fiddled with her visor. The quartz gem perked up at this, his eyes snapping open and his hands were quickly moved away from his ears.

 _"At least Garnet isn't saying anything embarrassing…"_ he thought.

"Okay, I'll try that." Steven nodded at Garnet. "But you guys can't watch this time. At least now I know who was messing up my funky flow earlier."

Steven ran to the fridge and grabbed what seemed to be a red glow-stick bracelet from the freezer. Amethyst, Pearl and Naruto stared at the boy with comically confused expressions and their heads tilted slightly to the right. "Funky flow?"

 **"Oi, what's that kid?"** Kurama asked, the glowing item catching his eye.

"NOTHING!" the Quartz-Universe yelled, rushing out the door before any more question could be asked. As he was about to hurry down the stairs however, Naruto grabbed his shoulder and led him to the left side of the door outside, away from peering eyes and listening ears.

"Hey, slow down there kiddo. Listen. I know why you brought your bike down when you were going to talk to that girl for the first time, you wanted to impress her, eh? Here's a tip, don't act like anyone else but yourself. If they don't like you for who you are, then I suggest you give up on her. Never make yourself seem as if you're someone else just to get her to like you, understand?" He said, remembering the infatuation he had with Sakura in his younger years and the time he had transformed himself into Sasuke.

Steven blinked up at him and a small smile appeared on his face. "Yeah. I understand."

"Good. Now if you really do like her, then start small. Be her friend first rather than just go straight for a relationship. While you are kinda too young for this, it's your life. I can't control it. Have fun ya troublemaker." He chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair when he walked back inside the house. The Crystal Gems left in the temple stared at the half-human as he slowly disappeared from their eyesight.

"You know, I can respect the agreement we have of not watching him while he talks with a new friend," Naruto started, turning to the females beside him. "…but are you sure that it's alright to leave him alone while whatever is causing these tremors is still running amok?"

"What do you think we're doing while he's away, sit here wait for him all day?" Garnet rhetorically said. She quickly spoke again when she saw the gem off-worlder's mouth open to respond. "Of course not. We'll be looking for the creature that is causing all this quaking while he's gone."

Naruto closed his half-open mouth and mumbled out, "Alright."

* * *

[Hours Later]

[Crystal Gem Temple Porch]

 **"What are we going to do? Wherever we look, the thing that's making all these minor magnitudes still eludes our grasp."** Kurama grumbled, laying on his stomach while Pearl and Naruto leaned against his side, guttural sounds reverberating in his throat as the ballerina-like gem scratched the his ears gently while Naruto laid his head on her lap.

"It's already night-time. We'll have to search for it again tomorrow, it will be easier to spot in the morning. But first, we have to look for Steven. It's getting late." Garnet spoke, both her and Amethyst smiling inside at the sight of the three. Naruto's peaceful look disappeared when he suddenly stood straight up, his ears twitching.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" the shinobi didn't answer, his eyes widening when he brought his arm up to his eyes. Steven's controlled seal was glowing orange with a light-blue outline.

"I think Steven just found what's been causing the quaking." He stated, his now-extended senses proving his claim. The others were instantly on guard and followed the ninja when he hopped off into the boy's direction. Luckily he wasn't that far away from the temple and they got to his location in two minutes. They had appeared quick enough to see the mutated gem they had been looking for retreat back into its crystal. The young half-gem was standing in front of a broken part of the pier, a hand held up clutching the bracelet he had taken out of the freezer earlier while his other hand was intertwined with the girl he had been stuck in a bubble with for the past couple of hours.

"STEVEN! Are you alright?" Pearl inquired, a concerned look on her face. "What happened?"

Steven opened his mouth to answer, but was stopped by Naruto placing his hands on his shoulders with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and leaned his head to Steven's right side while Kurama leaned over to his left.

 **"Heh, sooo… you gonna introduce us?"** Kurama drawled out.

"Yeaaa, it would only be polite if you did." Naruto added.

"C'mon Steven, intro-" Amethyst was cut off when Garnet grabbed the back of her tank top while Pearl did the same for Naruto while grabbing one of Kurama's tails.

"Let's go you three. We don't want to mess up his funky flow." Pearl sighed out, her and the square-haired gem beside her dragged the individuals in their grasp back to the temple.

"Uh, funky flow?" the girl turned to Steven confusedly.

"Don't worry about that, Connie. They're just messing with me." Steven chuckled nervously as Connie stared at him with a raised eyebrow, unconvinced by his reasoning.

* * *

[Unknown Time]

[The Den, Self-Regenerating Training Room]

A figure sat in the middle of the grassy area. They sat cross-legged, focusing on the task at hand. His eyes were closed, wind blowing his hair backwards as an odd power flowed out of him. Its colour flashed from blue, to red, then purple and back again. The semi-sentient, mysterious energy moved itself and formed three different beings in front of the man, all associated with one of the colours the aura changed to. When it was red, the energy warped itself into what seemed to be an armoured, red-eyed, animalistic quadruped. When blue, it turned sculpted itself into a masked human which had a long, blue, serrated blade attached to its back. When purple, the aura built what seemed to be the same man from when it was blue. Unlike the past formation, the figure now wore metallic, dark-purple armour. Its outfit's design seemed to be based on the scarlet figure from before and it held the same jagged sword from earlier. A few meters away, a blood-red fox stood; carefully inspecting the man's actions.

 **"Heh, your control on which form to take is getting better."** Kurama grunted, sitting on his hind legs. **"You've pretty much mastered choosing which of the two halves to use when you're in calm conditions, but I guess combining them will have to wait. For now, we'll leave that one alone and instead will work on incorporating those two other crystal things in combat situations. "**

"They're not "crystal things" Kurama." Naruto sighed, not bothering to look at his brother and continued his current exercise. "Their name is Ku-"

Naruto paused and his eyes snapped open while Kurama's head perked up. Their moving ears flinched when a yell came from the entrance of the Den.

"YO NARUTO, KURAMA, C'MON! STEVEN REALLY WANTS TO GET TO THOSE TEACUPS AT FUNLAND!" Amethyst shouted from outside the training room. Naruto's eyes immediately widened and he managed to force the energy to dissipate into the air just before Amethyst barged into the clearing. "There you guys are! Let's go, I want to get to Funland already!"

"Yeah, hold on! We're coming!" He called back. He and Kurama both sighed in relief.

 _'That's one secret safe for a little while longer…'_ Naruto thought, pushing himself back onto his feet and ran straight towards the exit of the training room with Kurama in tow.


	8. Chapter 8

**Heeeey guys, Crazy7634 here with the new chapter on "A Second Chance"! Yeah, I know, it's been AGES since I last put up a new chapter. But with my other three stories, it's actually quite hard to juggle creating more content for four stories at once, managing my schoolwork, as well as having to handle only having thirty minutes of sleep everyday… pretty sure that the last one is not good for me. Moving on, thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed this story. If I made a mistake, or if you have an idea or suggestion, feel free to tell me. Also, there may not be any new chapters for both this story and Son of Two Dragons as I have decided to begin updating my stories two at a time. Since these two have now been updated, I will spend my time created the new chapters for The Tenth Guardian and Gravity Falls: Legend of the Nine-Tailed Guardian. Now, here's a bit of author responses to some reviews.**

 **Kiddi – Yeaaah, I know that Civilian Council shizz is quite overused. I can't seem to fully comprehend what your whole review is about, though I am pretty sure it's just a rant about how pissed off you are about the "Civilian Council" being used in fics. Some will probably think I'm stupid for not really understanding, but meh. Wouldn't be the first time I've been called stupid. Though, from what I understand from the wording in your review, you make it seem as if the Civilian Council was somehow the cause of putting Naruto in Steven Universe, for the lack of a better word, Universe. Remember, that part is just a flashback as well as partly a warped memory. (Oh jeez, I kinda ranted a bit, huh?)**

 **Honorboundfate – I intend to. But, again, I have quite a lot on my plate right now. So, the update speeds of my stories are going to be quite sluggish.**

 **Dante Watterson – Thanks, man! I hope that I can make the future chapters to the standard expectation though. xD**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything, especially Naruto and Steven Universe.**

* * *

Chapter 8 – Stop Laughing!

[A Few Days Later, 1:14 p.m.]

[Outside of the Crystal Gem Temple]

"Uh, Steven, are you sure this is a good idea?" Connie Maheswaran asked her best, and only, friend. She wore a light-green dress, red boots and had purplish glasses. She was currently standing nervously on the porch of Steven's house. While the boy may not have been concerned in any way in the slightest, she certainly was. Her anxious eyes kept flashing from the door, to the half-gem, and back to the door again.

"Hey, it's going to be fine. You'll see." Steven smiled encouragingly, a hand wrapping around the door's handle. He twisted the knob and pushed the door in. "Follow me."

The curly-haired boy strode in, Connie following behind him tentatively. She let out a breath of wonder, her eyes scanning the interior of the house. To her, the house looked quite a bit smaller from the outside. She turned away from the TV in what she assumed to be Steven's room, her eyes widening when she spotted the crystalline, circular pad that was a few meters in front of her. "Woah…"

"Hm…? Oh, hello Steven." Pearl called out from the kitchen, scrubbing the plate in her hand with a sponge. Amethyst was sitting at the counter, staring curiously at the children while Garnet was helping Pearl by drying the dishes. The ballerina-like female was passing a dish to the taller gem beside her when she noticed the familiar form of Connie. "Huh? Who's your friend?"

"Ugh, that's right! You guys haven't been properly introduced yet!" Steven facepalmed at his forgetfulness before placing a hand on the girl's shoulder while also using an outstretched arm to gesture to the Crystal Gems. "Guys, this is Connie. Connie, these are the Crystal Gems."

Steven paused and looked around for a moment.

"Hang on, where are-"

As if on cue, two figures crashed through the ceiling and into the area near the warp pad, Connie gasping in surprise. She looked on confusedly when she saw a bare-chested blonde man and a multi-tailed crimson fox rolling on the ground, trying to pin the other to the floor. Playful growls and snarls were heard along with jingling from the chains hanging around the human male's neck. Naruto smirked and pushed Kurama into the ground, the kitsune letting out a yelp when his jaw impacted against the wooden floor.

"Come on, say uncle!"

 **"NEVER!"**

"DO IT!"

 **"NO!"**

Naruto put his right arm around Kurama's neck and began to tighten his grip. "Say it!"

 **"Grr… F-FINE! Uncle, uncle! *cough* Just let me breathe already!"** The bijuu sighed in relief when he was released from the lock and gulped down large quantities of air, sending his triumphant jinchūriki an annoyed look. Naruto got off of Kurama and smirked down at him. He rolled his neck, a satisfied smile was on his face when the sound of popping joints reached his ears.

"*AHEM*!" Someone coughed, getting the duo's attention. They turned to Pearl and saw her pointing to something. Their eyes followed the finger and Naruto blinked when he finally noticed the bespectacled girl staring incredulously at them.

Naruto sheepishly eye-smiled. "Uh… hi?"

"What- Where- Why-…?" Connie was at a loss for words. These two literally _flew_ through the roof, dropping down from a height who knows how high, while breaking thick tiles and planks as they did so. Yet, they are STILL able to move around without pain, indicating that they hadn't even gotten a single injury after breaking through such tough material. It was inconceivable. "How did you two live through that fall?! That's impossible!"

"Uhh…" Naruto didn't know what to say. He hadn't been expecting anyone else apart from the gems inside the house. Sure, he was vaguely aware of her presence during his and Kurama's descent, but he had been focused too intently on pinning the fox to take full notice of her. As his mind was furiously trying to create a believable explanation, he then noticed that her features seemed familiar to him. _'Where have I seen her before…?'_

Let's see. Tanned, black haired, dress and glasses… Wait a minute.

 _'So, he brought the friend he met a few days ago over, eh? That also means that this is the girl he has a crush on… I nearly forgot about her. Oh well, at least now we have another thing to tease Steven about later.'_

"Hmm, you've already seen giant worm monsters, and I'm pretty sure that Steven's been telling you all about the Crystal Gems. You know, information about their powers and such." He lazily raised a hand and scratched his chin. "I thought you would've known by now that words such as "impossible" and "unachievable" kind of gets thrown right out the window when you're around us in Beach City."

Connie was silent and stared dumbly at him for a second. "W-Well yes, but…"

After the whole ordeal with the bubble, she had begun to realize that not everything was what it seemed. But still, the existence of another race that came from a far-away planet? That was a bit hard to comprehend quickly and easily.

"Heheh, don't worry. I know that all this is a bit hard to easily take in a stride-" The spiky-haired man was cut off by a growl from behind. He managed to spin his body around and saw a flash of Kurama's fanged visage before he was tackled into the ground. "Oi! I thought we settled this already. That steak was mine. I grabbed it first, so I got it fair and square!"

 **"Nope, don't care! I wanted that and you know it. I was hungry and food is food, whether you already claimed it or not. This is revenge!"**

Pearl sighed at the two who were, once again, rolling on the floor and walked over to Steven and Connie. "I'm sorry, please excuse the man-child and the oversized fox kit-"

 **"I resent that remark."**

"I will neither confirm, nor deny that statement!"

Pearl ignored the duo and sent the girl a kind smile. "-over there, we believe that something happened to their minds which had caused their mentalities to stay at a child-like level. So, your name is Connie? I'm Pearl."

"Garnet." The sunglass-wearing female placed the towel in her hands on the counter and went to stand beside Amethyst, giving the young girl a nod.

Amethyst smirked and lazily raised a hand in greeting. "Whaddup, the name's Amethyst."

The young girl shook herself out of her slight stupor at the sight of the wrestling brothers, managing to say a response. "I-It's nice to meet you."

"So, Connie, what brings you to our home?" Pearl asked. Steven grinned widely and answered before she could.

"We came here just to hang out. You know, maybe watch some Crying Breakfast Friends or play some Golf Quest!" He exclaimed. He paused and chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head similarly to his older brother. "Though, I may or may not have forgotten about the introducing part earlier."

Pearl shook her head amusedly. "I swear, Naruto is influencing you more negatively than positively."

Said brother was currently lying on the ground, his face being pushed into the ground by one of the Kurama's feet. His ears twitched when heard his name and he shoved Kurama's paw away from his head. He pulled his head off of the floor and gave Pearl a questioning look. "I do what now?"

"I said that you-" The spear-wielding woman stopped mid-sentence and sighed when she saw his attention being diverted, Kurama having pounced on Naruto while she was speaking to him. "You guys are impossible."

* * *

[A Month or So Later, Crystal Gem Temple]

Naruto towards the door, a towel around his neck as water dripped down from his spiky locks. He let out a yelp in surprise when the wet fox beside him shook himself slightly. The blonde laughed, dropping a plastic bag filled with wet clothes and bandages, and raised his arms up in a cross position as an attempt to shield himself from the water flying his way. "Hey! C'mon Kurama, stop it!"

 **"Why should I, when doing the opposite would make you at least a little bit annoyed?"** Kurama grinned in response and shook himself harder, many droplets of liquid flying off of the crimson hairs and landing on Naruto's front half, wetting the shinobi's dry cargo pants. The jinchūriki let out another round of laughter, turning around to try and keep himself from getting even more drenched, but only managed to get his dry half wet as well. A few minutes later, he tentatively lowered his arms and slowly turned around to face the quadruped when the fox stopped his actions. He looked down at himself, raising an eyebrow at his now wet form.

"That was just cruel, brother." He pulled the towel down and used it to wipe off as much water as he could before placing it around his neck again. He kicked the plastic back lightly to the side to keep it from tripping those making their way out of the home and entered the house with Kurama behind him. They blinked owlishly when Amethyst hurriedly walked down the stairs that lead to Steven's room, completely ignoring their presence as she headed for the temple door with an annoyed look on her face. The two looked up at the ledge, only to see that Steven was staring sadly at what seemed to be a mask designed to look like the muzzle of a tiger. Flashing silently to a spot behind the young half-gem, he leaned down and placed a dry hand on the curly-haired boy's shoulder. "What's on your mind, Li'l Millionaire?"

"GAH!" The Universe flinched, his head quickly turning to face who had spoken. His eyes widened when he recognized the two to be Naruto and Kurama, immediately trying to hide the small mask under his bedcovers. "W-What are you guys doing here? What do y-you mean by millionaire- and why are you wet?"

Steven paused his stuttering when he noticed that clumps of the ninja's usually gravity-defying hair had stuck themselves to his face, water slowly dripping from the tips of the spiky locks. His eyes trailed to the fox who had just made it up the stairs and saw that his fur was sticking to him as well. Naruto rubbed the back of his head, giving the child an eye-smile.

"Well, I wanted to come over earlier, but sleepyhead here didn't want to get up." The half-gem looked into his older brother's eyes and saw the large amount of mischief in them. The kitsune behind the blonde sighed and whacked the masked man on his head with a tail.

 **"Then this idiot thought it would have been a good idea to teleport me into the ocean just to wake me up. So, in retaliation, I jumped out and threw him in there as well before heading over here."** He grumbled, glaring slightly at the Uzumaki. Steven could practically feel the grin that was no doubt on Naruto's face and smiled widely at the interaction between the two. Kurama sighed and turned his gaze to the young boy. **"As for your last question, we know all about what you've been up to, Mister Tiger Millionaire."**

Steven's smile left his face and was replaced by a surprised expression. "H-How did you…?"

Naruto chuckled. "Trust me kiddo, not many things can get by us. Besides, you and Amethyst's attempts to quickly hide mistakes, such as when you accidentally kept the mask on while me, Kurama, Pearl and Garnet were heading off to a mission, weren't exactly subtle."

 **"Plus, we occasionally watch some of the Beach City Underground fights, and let me tell ya, we were quite surprised when we recognized you fighting alongside Amethyst in the ring."** Kurama added. **"Nice job with hitting that guy using the briefcase, by the way."**

"Thanks- WAIT! You guys aren't gonna tell Pearl and Garnet, are you?" The shorter male asked, pulled his pants up before staring up at Naruto.

The blonde gem smirked and tussled the younger gem's hair. "Ah, now why would we that? We've kept the fact that Amethyst goes there all the time a secret for years; heck, we were the ones to show here where it was! If we told them, then they would surely put a stop to this immediately. But from what we've seen, you don't actually go INTO the ring to fight the adults, Amethyst makes sure of that. Helping her defeat your enemies is only getting you more experience in using sneaky tactics against opponents who are better than you in strength and size. Observing the underhanded strategies used in the fights only shows you that anything goes in a battle and that you should always expect the unexpected. Learning tricks that you could possibly use in future battles is also a bonus."

 **"Yep. So unless you get a lapse in judgement and choose to jump head-first into a battle, with you getting yourself injured in the process, we don't really have much of a problem with this."** Kurama grinned, his fangs poking out from under his lips. The boy's eyes widened; his pupils morphing into five-pointed stars, while a large smile that looked as if it was about to break his face in half appeared on his face. He looked as if he was about to yell in happiness when a thought crossed his mind, causing him to freeze and frown. The off-worlders stared at him, their eyes showing both confusion and concern. **"Hey, what's with the long face, brat?"**

Steven let out a heavy sigh, plopping back down on the bed. "…You guys watched what happened in me and Amethyst's last fight, didn't you?"

"Hm?" Naruto raised a curious eyebrow at the odd question, his mind thinking back to that night.

 _'The recent one, huh? Well… they faced off against some canine-costume guys wearing fake wolf heads and leather pants. The two easily defeated them with one being taken down by a baseball bat that "slipped" through Tiger's fingers while he was practicing, and the other being knocked out by an elbow to the stomach from Purple Puma. Then Tiger left the ring for some time before coming back with a whole load of drinks and- Ohhh!'_

Naruto and Kurama winced, finally remembering what had happened. They shared a glance before turning to Steven, who kept his gaze on the wooden floor, knives of guilt and regret stabbing his heart. The seated wrestler reached for the mask that was still in the bed and pulled it out, staring at it sadly. He let out a breath and spoke. "I hurt Lars. I mean, I thought we were just playing around, and that it was all just for fun, but- I… I took it too far."

The blonde knelt down beside Steven and laid a hand on his head.

"Hey, kiddo. Don't beat yourself up too much about it. We know you said some pretty harsh words, but you didn't mean them. It was an accident. You just got caught up in all the fighting and yelling, that's all. As for hurting Lars, maybe you can think of a way to make it up to him somehow, yeah? He seemed to be a big fan of Tiger's, maybe you'd be able to bring him up onto the ring and let him wear the championship belt for a moment or so, eh? Just a little food for thought there." He smiled when he saw Steven perk up a bit, a thoughtful look now on his face. Naruto could just imagine cogs turning in his head. The trio flinched when the sound of the temple door sliding open reached their ears and the mask was shoved back under the bed covers once again. Three heads quickly snapped towards the direction of the entrance to see who had walked out; it was Pearl. The spear she held in her hands disappeared into mist as she walked out of her room, a delicate eyebrow arching at the sight of the trio currently situated on the ledge.

"Naruto, Kurama? I didn't think you guys would be here." She squinted her eyes as she studied the shinobi and bijuu closer. "Hang on, why are you wet?"

Naruto gave her an eye-smile while Kurama had a slightly aggravated look on his face. "Ah, no particular reason."

Pearl sighed and shook her head with a small smile on her face. She walked over to the stairs that lead up to Steven's room. "Well, whatever the reason may have been, you guys are creating a mess. Could you at least dry off in the bathroom so that you'll stop leaving small puddles all around the house?"

The two blinked at her question before craning their heads downward. They both lifted a foot, their eyes trailing the drops of water that slid down their feet and dripped down into the puddles they had indeed created. Naruto's cerulean eyes gained a mischievous twinkle, a smirk growing under his mask as an idea formed in his mind, and he disappeared in a silent swirl of wind. Pearl was about to walk up the steps when she froze mid-step, a cold chill climbing up her spine. She immediately turned to look at the others and saw the two on the ledge were staring at her curiously. Before she could let out a sigh of relief, she noticed something odd. Two? Weren't there supposed to be three? Pearl tensed when she heard an evil cackle come from behind her. She span around and saw a soggy Naruto holding his arms out to the side. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Naruto… don't you dare!" She said warningly, her knees beginning to bend, readying them in case she would need to bolt away as fast as possible. Seeing that he didn't stop, she tried to jump away, but it was too late. Naruto let out a laugh and wrapped his soaked arms around Pearl. "No!"

The blonde kept his grip around her stomach as he and the other two laughed at the sight of Pearl trying to struggle out of his arms. After a minute or two, Pearl's form slackened, her body slouching slightly as she gave up on trying to escape, her lack of action causing Naruto to grin and let her go. The peach-haired woman blinked when she felt his arms remove themselves from around her as well as the shinobi stepping back. She inspected her body, letting out a sigh when she saw that she was soaked. Hearing a muffled chuckle, her eye twitched and she flicked the water on her fingers at the male behind her before turning her back towards him, her arms now crossed.

"Aww, come on Pearl. I was just joking around!" Pearl didn't look back to face him and instead let out a huff before making her way towards the house's exit. Naruto smirked under his mask and quickly got behind the female, wrapping his arms around her waist, successfully stopping her in her tracks- and unknowingly causing her to gain a light blush on her cheeks. He leaned his head down, speaking huskily into her ear. "Hey now, don't be like that, Tenshi-chan. I'm sorry, okay?"

The blush on Pearl's cheeks darkened in shade and spread to her whole face. The close proximity along with the usage of the nickname he had given her a few weeks ago proving to be a bit too much. Naruto felt her tense up and gave her a worried look. He span her around and blinked when he saw her red face. He lifted a hand and placed it on her forehead.

"Hey, you alright? You're all red. Are you sure gems don't get sick?" Pearl heard the quiet giggling emanating from the duo on the ledge and shook her head out of her embarrassed daze. She grabbed Naruto's wrist and pulled his hand away from her head.

"I-I'm fine." She said in a slightly panicked way, beginning to hurriedly usher the confused blonde into the bathroom. "Now, go in there and dry off. L-Like I said earlier, you're making a mess."

With a few shoves, Naruto was now standing at the inside of the bathroom. He raised a hand and was about to speak when Pearl cut him off by slamming the door in his face. She let out a sigh of relief, her shoulders slumping as she plopped down on the couch. The sounds of light giggling reached her ears again and an annoyed expression was now on her face, a comical vein pulsating on her head.

"Hush up, you two. None of you say a single word about this."

* * *

[The Next Day, The Den]

The tall blonde sat cross-legged on the Den's stone floor, the air filled with an ear-piercing grinding noise as he sharpened a kunai with a smooth stone. Kurama was lying beside him, plugs were put into his long, rabbit-like ears to prevent him from losing his hearing. He gnawed lazily at a ham bone, his tails slowly swishing back and forth behind him. The fox paused his chewing and turned towards Naruto when he saw the sparks stop flying from the metal weapon. The blue-eyed ninja blew gently on the blade to get rid of any metal residue that had stuck after being shaved off. He turned the combat knife around, inspecting it for any faults before placing it on the ground. Naruto reached for a blunt, jagged shuriken from the weapons pouch attached to his leg and was about to start sharpening it when the altered Hiraishin kunai flashed peach and black. The two turned their attention towards the two that appeared and raised an eyebrow when they saw a childish poster. It depicted a crudely drawn purple, burly, white-haired man along with a slick-haired boy holding a suitcase and was wearing a tiger mask.

 _"Hm… so they finally found out about Amethyst taking Steven with her to the rings, eh?"_

 _ **"Tch, about time. I was wondering if they would EVER catch them. I mean, seriously, their actions have been very strange these past few days. Their odd behaviour should have clued them in ages ago!"**_

 _"Heh, you gotta remember that they aren't from our world. They didn't have to always watch their backs for spies or traitors. Well, maybe during that war they told us about. But from what we've heard, it still wasn't as bad as ones from the Elemental Nations."_

 _ **"Hn. At least now we know that we're going to have to work on Steven's stealth training along with his insight. I bet that if he hadn't created that poster in the first place, they would've been wrestling the night away scot-free for years while the other two are none the wiser."**_

 _"*sigh* I guess you're right. Wait, what's Pearl been saying again?"_

The two sweatdropped as they looked at the annoyed gem in front of them, both silent as she used a hand to gesture madly at the poster held in the other. They had been so engrossed in their mental conversation that they had unknowingly blocked out any sound from the outside world.

 _"Oh, boy…/_ _ **Ah, jeez…"**_

Luckily, the women didn't seem to notice their ignorance of what had been said as Pearl continued to talk.

"…how could she do something stupid like this, and to bring Steven along with her?! Why would she take him to a place filled with so much violence? How long has this been going on? Ugh! You two!" She turned sharply towards the two, her icy glare making them flinch and sit up straight, their backs as stiff as a board. "Did you know anything about this?!"

The two winced and quickly shook their heads negatively. "N-No, we didn't/ **No ma'am!"**

Pearl narrowed her eyes and looked at them suspiciously, causing the two to sweat. After all, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned", right? A few seconds of staring later she let out an irritated breath and made her way towards the Hiraishin kunai. The brothers gave sighs of relief and melted into the ground in exhaustion. They heard a snicker and looked to their right, only to see Garnet smiling at them smugly.

"Afraid, are we?" They rolled their eyes and grumbled as they stood up, Naruto patting his black shirt and dark-blue pants clear of dirt while Kurama shook himself clean.

 **"Please. We may be powerful, but we know just how terrifying a female can be when angered as much as Pearl is right now."**

"Good. Your knowledge of that piece of information will help you live a few more years than the average male." Garnet smirked and patted the males on their heads as if they were little puppies. The siblings let out low growls at her action before shaking their heads to unflatten the hair that the square-haired gem had patted down. The trio heard a cough and looked towards where the sound had originated from. Pearl stood by the altered Hiraishin kunai, her arms crossed with the rolled-up poster clutched tightly in her left hand. She was giving them an impatient stare while her foot tapped the ground fervently.

"Come on you guys, we have to go get Steven!"

The three shared glances before turning their gazes back to the annoyed female, the trio quickly made their way towards her, the group disappearing in a flash of multi-coloured lights.

* * *

[Beach City Underground]

Naruto, Kurama, Pearl and Garnet knelt outside the abandoned warehouse, all peering into the dark area through a broken window. The females' eyes narrowed when they saw the amount of people surrounding an equilateral wrestling ring that was lit up slightly with a few spotlights. They raised an eyebrow when they saw the four people holding onto the ropes that acted as the platform's barrier; they guessed that they were the fighters. Their breaths hitched in their throats when they saw a morphed Amethyst and the easily-identifiable Steven standing beside her. While the women stared at their targets, the males were staring off into a different direction, the gazes of their cerulean and scarlet orbs becoming steely.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Tonight, we host one of the most awaited fights in Beach City Underground history! Tonight, we host a fight between two teams, both consisting of two incredible powerhouses! Tonight, we host… the TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP!" Naruto and Kurama blinked in slight surprise, their serious expressions disappearing as they smirked at the speaking man. It seems that after all these years, _he_ was still the host for these sorts of things. The emcee was wearing a black and purple coat, a yellow tie, dark-grey shorts and brown boots; he was also dark-skinned and had no hair on his head. It was Mr. Smiley. He let out a shout of excitement through the microphone in his hand before continuing on with his introduction. "The first team that will fight in this ring, is Dashing Danny Doober and his partner, Handsome Hank Hackleschmidt. That's right folks, one of the teams fighting tonight is the infamous... Good-Looking Gang!"

Garnet and Pearl's eyes trailed to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, muscular duo as they winked at the cheering crowd before going back to staring their opposition down. The bald man then stretched out an arm and gestured to what seemed to be a bulky, purple-skinned, white-haired figure along with the male standing beside them. The short boy wore a small tiger mask, purple tie, and was holding a briefcase. As this was going on, the off-worlder duo's ears twitched and their heads snapped to the side. Their eyes narrowed as they stared at the ocean suspiciously. They shared a glance and nodded to each other discretely, both noticing the energy signatures emerging from the water.

"Now for their opponents. They are the ruthless rulers of the jungle, and are probably the second most powerful and dynamic team to have competed in Beach City Underground! They, are none other than… Purple Puma and Tiiiiiger Millionaaaaire!" Mr. Smiley, Naruto and Kurama winced when they heard the spectators boo and jeer. The ninja glanced down sadly at Tiger Millionaire. Although the yells didn't seem to affect Amethyst as she eagerly jumped into the ring, he saw Steven begin to wilt under the insults the onlookers cried out. Garnet and Pearl took this as their cue and hopped into the windowsill. "Heheh, okay folks, that's enough-"

Just as Mr. Smiley was about to call the start of the match, he was interrupted by the sudden activation of the lights inside the broken-down warehouse. Everyone looked up to lightbulbs attached to the roof in confusion and gasped in shock when two women jumped into the ring.

Steven froze. He closed his eyes and hesitantly opened them; they were still there. He winced in his mind and managed to stammer out their names, his voice dubious. "P-Pearl? G-Garnet?"

Amethyst's jaw dropped slightly in surprise and gave them in incredulous stare. "What are you guys doing here?!"

Pearl took a step back, her face showing an astonished expression at the question. "What are WE doing here?! What are YOU doing? What is THIS?!"

The peach-haired female held out the poster in her hand for Purple Puma to see. The morphed wrestler's eye twitched and a quiet snarl escaped her throat when she saw the roughly-drawn pictures of her and Tiger Millionaire. Her head sharply turned into Steven's direction, silently asking for an explanation. He saw the serious look in her eyes and looked down at his feet.

"I thought we could use some promotion…" He answered her meekly, not daring to look the angered gem in eye. Mr. Smiley, not exactly understanding the situation, happily dived into the conversation.

"Well, what do you know, folks? It seems that we have some new opponents!" Naruto and Kurama, who had silently climbed down the wall and were now sitting down behind the white announcer's table, facepalmed at his obliviousness to the tense atmosphere. The crowd's silence broke as they began to applaud and encourage the change. Pearl shot a quick glare at Mr. Smiley before walking over to the edge of the ring, raising her hands in the air in order to get the spectators' attention.

"No you don't. This match, is cancelled!" The people began to mutter in disagreement. Steven managed to come to terms that he and Amethyst had indeed been found and cried out in a disbelieving tone.

"What! Why?" The ballerina-like gem immediately rounded her gaze towards Steven at this, her eyes incredulous.

"Why?! I can't believe that you've been sneaking out to meddle around with these... these... violent ruffians! And YOU!" She then turned to Amethyst and leaned closer, casting skeptical glances at the onlookers. Pearl whispered to her harshly. "You've been using your _gem powers_ against _HUMANS_?!"

Amethyst's eyes narrowed behind her mask and a growl reverberated in her throat. "Isn't it enough for you that you're always on my case back at home? Now you've got to ruin wrestling for me too?!"

"We're not here to fight." Pearl said in a placating manner, knowing that should the conversation continue its current course, it would surely lead to conflict. The humans, however, began chanting "Fight, Fight, Fight!" in the background. She blew out a noise of irritation through gritted teeth. _'Well, they're certainly not helping with the situation at all…'_

"Steven. Amethyst." Somehow, Garnet's calm voice cut through the ruckus the humans were making and was clearly heard by the gems.

"WHAT?!" The maddened Purple Puma barked out, enraged at being told off. Garnet ignored the malice in her voice and coolly responded.

"Go back to the temple. We will discuss this later; clearly this is not the right environment for this kind of conversation."

Whatever small thread of calm that had been holding Amethyst back snapped and she shoved the group's leader with as much power as she could muster. "I DON'T WANNA!"

The action caused Pearl and Steven to cover their mouths in shock, not expecting this to happen. The bystanders also gasped in surprise, all having enough sense to realize that this was quite a serious offence. Even Naruto and Kurama were affected, both unconsciously pushed their chairs back as they stood up straight.

The fusion still wasn't deterred, slowly walking back to where she had been standing before. "Don't do this."

Amethyst ignored her warning and leaped straight for her, a fist cocked back for a nasty haymaker. Once she got into a close enough distance to her target, she launched the attack, only for it to be blocked by a flat palm. The square-haired female's free hand was then encased by a glove and she sent a palm strike to the wrestler's chest, the force of the attack flinging her into the brick wall behind her, causing large amounts of chipped stone and dust to fly everywhere. When everyone got their vision back, they saw Amethyst imbedded into the wall, spider cracks surrounding her. The purple fighter shook her head and attempted to pounce on Garnet again, but was intercepted by a super-powered punch to the side, propelling her into another wall. Amethyst hopped back into the ring and quickly put her into a lock, to which Garnet retaliated by pushing her off and decking her into the ground. She put so much power into the punch that the stage tilted to the side in a sharp angle.

"Guys, STOP!" Steven cried out, his arms flailing around as he tried to maintain his balance, attaching his feet to the platform using his variation of chakra. He relaxed slightly when the airborne half of the stage fell back down and turned back to his fighting family. Purple Puma was on her knees, glaring at the gauntlet-wearing gem as she waited for her to make a move. Steven saw them prepare to catapult themselves at each other once more and desperately looked around for anything that he could use in order to diffuse the situation. His eyes lit up when he spotted the mic Mr. Smiley dropped earlier when he had been flung up into the air. He picked it up and quickly spoke into it. "Wait! I want to tell you… Purple Puma's backstory."

"What?" Pearl muttered out quietly, a confused expression on her face. Everything in the building seemed to freeze, everyone's attention all focused on the young boy.

"Purple Puma, was the wildest cat in the jungle. But, he was so wild, that the other cats in his home couldn't take it anymore. So she- I mean, HE, left his home to look for a place where he could fit in; with others who also felt misunderstood… and that's exactly the reason why we're all here. We all want to be wild, to be free… to body slam each other while also wearing cool costumes! To create nicknames for each other! To- and- uh…" Steven paused. He turned to Garnet, briefly catching a glimpse of Naruto scribbling something down on a couple of large cards, and pleadingly looked into her eyes. "Can't we _please_ just have this? Can't we just… wrestle?"

The silent leader let a fond smile stretch on her face for a second before it disappeared as quickly as it came. She took the mic from his hands and brought it up to her lips. "No."

Everyone gasped in shock at her reply.

"Because we- we are…" As Garnet started to think up of a cover story, she saw Naruto and Kurama trying to get her attention. She saw the signs they were holding above their head and smirked slightly before beginning to read off of them. "Because WE are the Notorious Order of Wrestling Haters!"

Pearl blinked at the odd response, sending Garnet an inquiring look. She saw the discrete finger pointing to something behind her and saw the grinning duo sitting at the desk. Understanding the situation, she started to play along. "That's right! We wish to stop and ban wrestling EVERYWHERE. Now, are you just going to step down and let us continue on with our plans?"

"No! Purple, Millionaire, ya gotta save wrestling!" A boy with a rust-orange, fluffy Mohawk exclaimed. He wore black jeans, dark-green sneakers and a lime, snake t-shirt. "C'mon guys. Tiger, Puma! Tiger, Puma!"

 _'Lars?'_ Steven thought, confused. His confusion grew even more when the rest of the humans began to cheer them on as well. Neither he, nor Amethyst, knew exactly what to do in the situation, too stunned by the sudden change of hearts.

"Psst." They managed to hear the quiet, yet clear, sound over the roar of the crowd, said sound breaking them out of their stupor. They turned to Pearl, the one who made the noise in the first place, and saw both her and Garnet wink, with the taller gem having to lift her glasses up slightly to do so. Steven and Amethyst looked at each other, grins growing as they began to understand what was happening.

"We'll stop you!" Tiger Millionaire proclaimed. He spotted Pearl "trying" to sneak up on him and raised an elbow up, seemingly using it to strike her down as she quickly fell down into the ground. He was smiling at the crowd when he was suddenly grabbed by the back of his collar. Amethyst then swung him in Garnet's direction like a mace, her attack "hitting" and "downing" her.

"And they've taken down Captain Square!" While the off-worlders sat back down in their seats, Mr. Smiley shouted excitedly before he noticed two blondes with a ladder heading straight for the belt. "Hang on a minute folks, the good looking gang has a ladder! Are they aiming to steal the belt?! Oh, no. They- They're actually helping Tiger up!"

Amethyst gave a small smile at the sight of Steven clambering up the ladder before kneeling down beside her team leader. "I- I'm sorry for… uh… sorry."

Garnet chuckled slightly. "It's fine. I'm sorry too."

They turned back to the scene unfolding before them and smirked when they saw Steven grab the belts from the hook. The wrestling fans' hollers grew louder, the boy relishing in the encouragements. He turned to Lars, gesturing for him to come into the ring. The teen's breath hitched in his throat, tentatively climbing into the wrestling ring and stood in front of his hero. Tiger Millionaire took one of the belts in his hand and placed it around Lars' neck like a necklace. Lars gasped in shock, not expecting him to do this, especially with what the wrestler had done with his request to sign his cup. Tiger looked away, raising a hand to egg on the fans.

"I love you, Tiger Millionaire…" The teen stared up at the short boy, his eyes shining as he muttered quietly to himself. A loud crash suddenly interrupted the celebrations, two figures breaking a part of the roof as they dropped down and into the building. When the dust that had been kicked up settled down, two robotic figures with metal, angelic wings attached to their backs were seen. One was red and one was blue. Their heads looked like closed motorcycle helmets and their armour was thick enough to protect and hide weapons, yet not too bulky that it would hinder their movements. "What the-"

Naruto and Kurama watched this happen and sighed in irritation.

 _"I thought they were specifically ordered to be as discrete as they possibly could with their existence."_

 _ **"Heh, well, looks like they aren't paying attention to orders at the moment."**_

 _"*Sigh* ...Alright."_ Naruto stood up from his seat with a grunt and rolled his shoulders, smirking when he heard his joints pop. _"Let's go deal with them."_

 _ **"Heh, right behind ya kit."**_

 _"I think it's time that the demons returned…"_

 _ **"It'll be just like old times!"**_

Every step one of the figures took made slight tremors, showing off a bit of how powerful they were. The humans looked on, terrified, while the Crystal Gems were immediately on guard. An unidentifiable, altered voice came from the red suit of armour.

"Where are they?" It simply asked. Everyone became confused.

Pearl pulled a spear out of her gem, her form tense. "What are you talking about?"

A much deeper and darker voice came from the blue figure. **"Where are-"**

The sentence was cut off by a kick the figure received to the side of his face. Both the robotic figures were sent through the wall Amethyst had crashed into earlier, everyone's eyes widening in shock at the sight of who had done the attacks, the humans more surprised than the Crystal Gems. On the spots the robots once stood, were two unfamiliar characters, both having a leg stretched out in a kicking motion.

Mr. Smiley blinked once… twice… and finally three times, not believing who he was seeing. "I-It can't be! Folks, it seems that the past kings of Beach City Underground, have returned!"

The gems' heads snapped to the ex-singer, all shouting in unison. "What?!"

"That's right, you heard correctly! Four years ago, they, the legendary Demon Brothers, had mysteriously appeared in the ring. No one had ever seen nor heard of them before, not even I! On that fateful night, we had an unexpected cancellation. I began to panic, wondering how we were supposed to replace the missing fighters on short notice? But then, these two conveniently appeared before me, saying that they had overheard me and said that they were the back-up wrestlers I had hired earlier. Now, I knew that I had checked the list of wrestlers and guests beforehand, and I certainly didn't remember ever seeing their names on the sheets of paper; but after witnessing their arrival, I asked for their names and checked the lists again… they were there. Neat scribbles of "Shiro" and "Kuro", their team name being the "Demon Brothers". They completely decimated their oppositions, and for a while, they stayed as the unstoppable champions. As goals that many wished to reach, beasts that most wanted to surpass, warriors that seemed to have been sent from the heavens! But then, after a year of their rule, they simply vanished… at the exact same time as the arrival of the infamous Purple Puma, the wrestler who has taken over their mantle as the most powerful fighter in this ring!"

While humans let out breaths of amazement, the gems began to scrutinize the duo. They wore black, skin-tight jumpsuits and had dark-brown combat boots. They wore gold-buckled belts and had two straps around their chests, the strips of leather making an X shape. But to disguise their faces however, they wore thick, porcelain masks. Both were shaped to have a skeletal visage with horns protruding from their foreheads. The look of the large grins filled with teeth as sharp as knives sent cold chills up their spines, the four enlarged fangs they both held making them shiver. Two were located at the top of their mouths while the other two were on their jaws, all jutting out and curving to the side, making the masks' appearance all the more terrifying. But although they wore the same uniforms, there were a few differences between them; such as how one was gloved, bore raven hair and possessed a white mask, while the other was donned snow-white hair, had bandaged hands and wore an onyx mask.

Steven stared at them in awe for a few moments, picturing each of the new arrivals sitting on high and sturdy, stone thrones. Their gazes staring down at those below them, their eyes emotionless and their postures confident. After a while, he shook his head back to reality and he asked a question that popped into his mind. "Wait, how do you know which one's which?"

Mr. Smiley smirked. "Ah, that's easy. The one with the fingerless leather gloves is Kuro and the one with the gauze-wrapped hands is Shiro.

The duo planted their airborne feet back down, the gems raising an eyebrow when the caught the winks they sent their way. The white-haired brother rolled his neck and wrists, the gloves he wore producing a squeaking noise as he did so. The black-haired male beside him cracked his knuckles, disappearing into thin air along with his partner a second later.

"No you don't, ya little bugger!" The red android who had managed to shove the rubble on himself off barely blocked the earth-shattering punch Shiro tried to deliver to his neck. It held on to his fist with a palm before quickly retaliating with a punch of its own. Shiro tensed when he saw the oncoming fist and leaped backwards at the last second, the attack nearly hitting his chest. "Oi! Watch where you're throwing your attacks, will ya? That nearly hit me!"

"That was the point." The intelligent metal contraption said flatly, pushing forward with its feet as it tried to hit the human again with a haymaker.

"Oh jeez!" The man regained his footing quickly and grabbed the humanoid machine by its wrist, showing off his incredible strength by chucking the metal figure over his shoulder, the robot crashing into the announcer's table. A few tense moments went past, the robot remaining motionless. The male hopped down to the concrete floor a few meters away from it, cautiously sneaking closer. "Hey, you're dead, right?"

When he didn't receive a reply, Shiro slackened his posture, only for the automation to stand back up and launch itself straight at him. The ivory-haired man raised his hands in front of him, his fingers locking with the scarlet robot's own metal ones. They stared at each other, putting as much power as they could into knocking their opponent down. The cracks and mini-craters created by their feet were ignored, both too caught up in their fight for dominance.

Meanwhile, as the two stared each other down in a fight between wills, Kuro's fight was… different.

 **"Hahahah! Come on, start fighting already!"** He guffawed out, his blue opponent pulling his metal head out of the wall. He growled in annoyance and sprinted in Kuro's direction. The champion smirked under his mask and moved to the left at the last minute, his right leg stretched out. The running robot flinched at the sight and failed to slow down his pace, his foot getting caught in the fighter's leg, the suddenly imbalance in his body's support causing him to fall flat on his face. The sight of the fallen machinery made Kuro laugh again. **"Gahah! For something that is supposed to be state-of-the-art, you can't seem to keep your balance. I guess something went wrong in the making of your design."**

A harsh cough was heard from Shiro, his annoyed voice ringing out afterwards. "You know, from the looks of it, they seem to be pretty high-tech. It must've not been easy to make them. Also, I'm pretty sure they were made to be soldiers, not ballerinas."

 **"Yeah, yeah. Fine; I get it. I'll shut up."** Kuro replied nonchalantly. Everyone who watched the interaction occur could practically feel the grin hidden behind the mask. Kuro then stomped his foot on the back of the android struggling to stand back up, holding on to one of its flailing arms. **"Now, where was I… oh, right!"**

The humanoid became alarmed when he felt his limb begin to slowly detach itself from his torso. **"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the heck are you doing- OI!"**

 **"Oh-ho-ho! That was easier than I thought!"** The odd, and probably mentally-disturbed, wrestler cackled in glee as he pulled the arm completely off of his poor victim. He dangled it in front of his eyes and inspected the mechanical object. **"Heh, quite durable. Would've been hard to take off it was someone other than me or Shiro who attempted to do so. Now then…"**

His eyes slid back to his vulnerable opponent, a dangerous glint was visible in them. He lifted the limb above his head. Its hand's limp fingers curled up and locked themselves into place, forming a fist. The jet-black haired male then grew a mad grin before swiftly bringing it down. The downed automaton let out a yelp as the hand collided powerfully against his head.

 **"Heheheh!"** Kuro let out a round of giggles, ones that you would usually hear from those whom are insane, repeatedly striking his foe with the appendage. **"Why you hittin' yourself? Why're you YOURSELF? WHY ARE YOU HITTING YOURSELF?!"**

Shiro heard his brother's ramblings and sighed. He head-butted his adversary and threw them near Kuro, the robot landing on its back, dazed. He appeared in front of it and placed a knee on its chest, grabbing it by its wrists.

"Okay, while that may be humiliating, it is much more entertaining to do if their limbs are still bound to their person. Like this." Shiro forced the figure's hands to form fists and made it pummel itself with its own incredible strength. Every time they struck, a loud clang could be heard along with the childish snickers of the deranged.

The bystanders, who were now staring incredulously at the scene, took wary steps back, the crazy males sending chills up their spines. Steven followed their example, his earlier mental image of the team dissolving into nothing. Mr. Smiley chuckled nervously into his mic. "Oh yeah, now I remember. They were also known as the Demented Duo, as some had speculated that the two may suffer from personality disorders due to their random attitude transitions between serious, childish and, of course, near-psychotic..."

No one replied. All of them were too focused in watching the maniacal siblings mess around.

[Unknown Location]

 **"You know, you could have just waited until we came back. Either that, or you could have at least given us some sort of discrete signal so that we knew that you needed to speak to us instead of just barging into the situation like that."** A deep, gravelly voice huffed, the quadrupedal figure staring at the damaged armour that was hung on the wall to his left. He winced at the sight of the broken parts and muttered, **"Though, we could have gone easier on the suits... if only we didn't get caught up in the moment."**

"Yeah, we could have been subtle, but where's the fun in that, Kurama?" A male spoke, amusement evident in his voice.

A feminine giggle was heard. "You have to admit, while the suits got a bit roughed up, it was still entertaining."

"True. Well, considering your attitudes, at least now we know why _he_ was so nonchalant about serious topics before… you know." Another male sighed. A few moments of silence went past before the same man coughed. "Anyway, back onto the reason why we're here. Did you accomplish your motives for leaving?"

The man from before interrupted him, a sly grin on his face. "You know, you're always so serious, Naruto. How about you get a girl, eh? To help ya loosen up a little. After all, there _is_ that one girl from that group you hang out with. You seem to be pretty chummy with her."

Naruto blushed. "What are you talking about?!"

Kurama and the woman laughed at his reaction.

 **"You know, he's right. She may not be from this planet, but she knows of its inhabitants' customs. You should go for it."**

"KURAMA! I thought you were on my side!" His reaction only made Kurama guffaw louder while the unknown man hung onto the fox's side, barely able to breathe in his laughter. The only female in the group giggled at Naruto's red face before placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey now, while it seems like they're messing around, they are actually quite right. Yes, making sure that your friends in Beach City are kept safe and unknown to Rīfu IS important, but you have to relax once in a while. Plus, Kurama told us that there have been women who have asked you out before, but you've always refused them; even before the Rīfu incident. Ever since you had to move from that old world of yours, you haven't tried to put any romance in your life; and we all know that out of everything, love is something that you have experienced the least in the years you have been alive. But now that you have a second chance at life, you've always pushed things like this aside, opting to bury yourself in work instead of trying to live your second life. The fact that you're putting so much effort into trying to get Rīfu back when there could have been easier ways to do so is actually proof of that. Let yourself live a little, yeah? Not all girls are going to react like that pink-haired teammate of yours if you were to ask them out on a date." She said gently, giving him a small smile.

Naruto looked down at the ground. He knew they were right, but it just wasn't that easy. If he really were to ask someone, for example Pearl, then what about the consequences? If she were to refuse, then interactions between him and her may become a bit awkward, which in turn would affect the whole team's dynamic. He couldn't do that. He just got a new group to call a family, he didn't want to ruin it all. Naruto sighed. At the moment, there wasn't really enough room for things like romance. If he were to fall in love, then he might get distracted from all the projects he has to juggle around. He hummed in thought. But still, he _has_ been getting quite a bit stressed lately, and he knew that he really couldn't deny to having some sort of attraction towards the peach-haired Crystal Gem…

The spectral woman saw the small flicker of hope in his eyes, her smile growing into a mischievous smirk. "You know… I do think that she will be good for you. After all, other than Kurama, she's probably the only one who can stop you from accidentally martyring yourself after doing something incredibly stupid in order to "protect those precious to me at all costs". While it's a good belief to go by, you seem to take it to an extreme where you do something suicidal for something that might equal to getting a papercut. If the woman you choose to be with can't stop you from doing that, then we already know she isn't for you. You need someone who can actually rein in your random bouts of stupidity. Just like how Kurama said your mother did to your father."

Naruto's face flushed again as laughter filled the area they were in.

"Let's just shut up about that now, okay? We really do need to talk about the main objective here... Guys…? GUYS! Oi! Stop laughing already, damn it!"


End file.
